Project C.A.N. 2009 - C.A.N. Collect on 18 July

Project C.A.N. has always been my favorite Special Project in CSC. There are many reasons for this. The sentimental one is that it was the Project C.A.N of three years ago that introduced me to CSC and its activities, marking the beginning of the most unforgettable experiences in my undergraduate life. The large scale of the event means that I will usually get the chance to catch up with the other people I know in CSC, as it is likely that most would be down to help out in one way or another. Because of the scale, it requires help from all in the club, and I always think that both old and new volunteers coming together to make this event possible is a very heart-warming sight indeed. Personally, I also feel that the project is one of the most meaningful that is undertaken by the club, because we are helping so many beneficiaries in a very direct manner (food and necessities). But perhaps most of all, I look forward to Project C.A.N. every year because it adds a personal touch to community service, because ever since the first day I participated in this project, I have encountered countless rejections, yet have also seen many instances of kindness that sends a warm fuzzy feeling right into the bottom on my heart.

And so for the fourth year running, I dragged myself out of bed early on a weekend morning to go to a particular area of Singapore for C.A.N. Collect, the first phase of Project C.A.N. My experience from the previous years tells me that gathering the many volunteers who will be turning up takes some time, and as such the event will usually commence much later than the reporting time. Thus, my actual intentions were to arrive later than the scheduled timing; alas, an unfortunate miscalculation meant that I found myself at arriving at Woodlands MRT punctually at 8.30am to find that none of the rest of the MINDSville volunteers was there yet. So I changed into the free T-shirt that were given to us while lamenting the efficiency of Singapore’s public transport for once, and waited for Juncheng, Yani, Miki, Sinhui and Yingyi to turn up. When everyone has arrived, we walked to the gathering point which was at a nearby basketball court, listened to a briefing, before finally setting off on our mission in the HDB heartlands of Woodlands with our group, which also comprised of Huiting’s group from Ethelonter VI.

Now, some information about the event first. Point No. 1: we don’t just aim to collect cans during Project C.A.N. The name is just another of the acronyms in this acronym-crazy nation, which stands for “Collection in Aid of the Needy”, and collection is for all kinds of non-perishable food rations like biscuits, rice, milk powder etc. other than canned food. Point No. 2: C.A.N. Collect is the first phase in the project whereby we go from household-to-household and ask for these donations. And so our job for the day is solicit food rations from 12 HDB blocks in Woodlands!

To summarize, the weather was quite hot and the air was pretty humid. The lunch was pretty good, better than the last 2 years anyway. And it seems like the people from Woodlands were more generous than those from the places we went the last 2 years, because it feels like more was collected this year. For me, there were 3 things that were particularly memorable. Firstly, one of the blocks we went to actually had units which were two-roomed flats, so as you can imagine the families living there were probably less well-to-do. We were wondering whether to actually ask them for donations, and decided to go ahead anyway. As expected, the amount of food we collected from that block was not fantastic, but there were still some families who tried to help by giving us whatever they could, and I thought they were very nice gestures.

The second incident happened at another block. This family I asked said they were not informed about this collection drive, and told me to hold on for a moment while they went to see what they could afford to give. A few minutes later, they came out with three big bundles of food, as well as another bag of canned drinks they said were for the volunteers. The last incident happened when we have finished combing all the flats, and were sorting the food at the void deck and waiting for the vans to come and collect the rations. This auntie came walking towards us holding a carton of canned drinks and gave it to us, saying we can help ourselves to them and donate the unfinished ones. I think these very nice and friendly people really made my day!

And I think it is because of people like them that, come next year, I would gladly drag myself out of bed early on a weekend morning again to go to another part of Singapore.

Wei Chung