Tonight was suppose to be JUGAS Shinnenkai 新年会 Dinner 2020. However, with the ongoing COVID-19 situation, the Exco took the unprecedented decision to cancel the dinner in the interest of public health. It was a pity, given that the organising committee had put in a lot of hard work in the past few months preparing. It was after all supposed to be our 50th Anniversary Shinnenkai.
What is heartening though was that the young Exco members came up with the idea of doing a fundraising to support the fight against this global menace. Instead of giving an outright refund, we offered members the option to donate the fees they paid for the dinner to the Singapore Red Cross relief effort through the local Chinese media donation campaign "风雨同舟抗疫情"(https://redcross.give.asia/campaign/-1851#/which has since closed). Within a short 3-4 days, members responded readily with some donating more than their dinner fees or donating even though they were not attending dinner. Although not a big sum, I am glad that JUGAS could do our small part to help those on the frontline fighting the outbreak. After all, we are all in the same boat through winds and rain.
A big thank you to all those who contributed to the fundraising in cash or through effort.
The year started seemingly on a gloomy footing but there is always a silver lining in the dark clouds.