Over 260 attendees including 44 alumni participated in the SMU Challenge 2016 on 31st July. An annual signature SMU community outreach event organised by the Special Interest and Community Service Sodality (SICS), the event saw SMU’s students, staff, faculty and alumni working together as a university to give back to society. This year's beneficiaries included The Singapore Association for the Deaf and Muscular Dystrophy Association Singapore.
Before the flag off, Mayor of Central Singapore District Ms Denise Phua Lay Peng gave an opening speech expressing thanks to the organisers and all participants. “It's a terrific idea to honour people with special needs and different abilities. It’s good that we do not see them as objects of pity; they, like everyone else, have social needs and want to contribute and give back to society. By inviting our special needs friends to do their part in community service, SMU Challenge is looking beyond the usual society narrative of helping them but also recognise their abilities to serve and contribute. This is a good way by which we raise the bar for what our country should do for the cause of building a truly inclusive society.”
From the starting point at SMU's Lee Kong Chian School of Business, Mayor Phua walked with the contingent beyond the Padang, through prominent landmarks like the National Gallery of Singapore, and The Float@Marina Bay. Coinciding with a Car-Free Sunday, the roads were free of traffic, and with many fringe activities, the participants enjoyed the first stretch of the walkathon. There are special needs friends who walked with the SMU community delivering necessities to the elderlies.
Alumnus participant Mr Ng Swee Shoon (BBM, 2009) said, "Investing a Sunday morning to overcome the challenge of delivering the necessity packs to the seniors at Peace Connect Neighborhood Link together with fellow alumni and friends has been a truly meaningful and rewarding experience."
The next long stretch was along the coast line, wrapped around the Singapore Flyer, all the way pass the F1 pit until the flyover where participants walk by the St John’s Brigade Headquarters to reach the destination. All through this 5km walk, each participant carried a ‘necessity pack’ – a backpack loaded with basic necessities such as rice, biscuits, and soy sauce – that was delivered to the seniors of Peace Connect Neighbourhood Link, the Challenge’s end point. The total weight carried as 1050kg. At the end point, some backpacks were immediately delivered to the door steps, others given to the seniors who came down to join in, and the remainder left for the Peace Connect staff to distribute further.
With performances by SMU Voix and SMU Wushu, a thank-you speech by the organising chairperson Miss LOH Xiaoyou, 2014 batch of Business School student, the walkathon ended with a simple lunch for the seniors who came down, together with the walkers and the hardworking organisers.
"The walk-a-thon is definitely challenging to both our mental and physical abilities, especially under the hot sun. I feel a sense of accomplishment after the SMU Challenge and I am even more mentally satisfied knowing that I did some good out of this challenge" concluded alumnus participant Peng Yin-Chia (JD, 2015).