Inspiring kindness around us

Dr William Wan, General Secretary of the Singapore Kindness Movement, 
Principals, parents and students,
Boys and Girls, 
Friends from MINDS,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good afternoon. 

1. I am delighted to be here with you this afternoon. It's wonderful to honour and celebrate kindness in action. The awards we will present today – the Friend of Singa. Maybe some of you may not find him as familiar, but I was just telling Dr Wan, that my generation grew up with Singa Lion. The next one is Write for Kindness, and a new Kindness Badge. All these encapsulate the spirit of kindness not just in words but in actions too, and really, as a way of life.
   

Collaboration with MOE

2. The Singapore Kindness Movement works very closely with the MOE to align the Kindness Awards with its Character and Citizenship Education (CCE). Our students are given many opportunities to make a difference in the community. These efforts to cultivate social and civic awareness amongst our students go to making Singapore a kinder, more gracious nation.
   

Friend of Singa and Write for Kindness

3. The Friends of Singa award recognises primary and secondary school students who show exemplary acts of kindness. We are impressed by how the students came up with thoughtful projects to brighten the lives of their schoolmates, teachers, and community. For example, students in Tanjong Katong Girls' School gave out roses to the school's maintenance staff – and we all know, they are the school's unsung heroes. A simple gesture like this will really warm the heart of a maintenance staff. The students also placed a chalkboard at the school foyer to encourage everyone to write kind messages and encouraging quotes to each other. Isn't this a wonderful way to start or end off your day in school?

4. Later on, we will also be presenting awards to the winners of the Write for Kindness competition. These secondary school students have leveraged on their creative writing skills to author captivating stories to teach younger Singaporeans and preschoolers about being kind and gracious. This is really very impactful and it will go a long way in inspiring the younger ones through the captivating stories to go on to embrace kindness acts and really make someone's day starting from today. These are very impactful stories and have very interesting multiplier effect. These interesting tales are a great way to inculcate these important values amongst our younger children.

The new Kindness Badge

5. For the first time, the inaugural Kindness Badge will be given to Girl Guides and Boy Scouts for their excellent efforts in promoting a culture of kindness in their community. I'm really excited at this point in time because a long time ago, I was also a Girl Guide in school.

6. One of the first recipients of the Kindness Badge are Scouts and Girl Guides from Edgefield Secondary, for their project called “Scatter Kindness”. They encouraged residents in Punggol to pen down their words of appreciation for their neighbours on helium balloons and sharing with the recipients. This thoughtful initiative received lots of positive feedback. One of the residents wrote: “We stay on level 6. It was very nice to receive a balloon with a note from our neighbour on level 13. So we were inspired to write a note to another neighbour to spread the kindness!” As you can see, such waves of kindness can indeed spread and have a very positive infectious effect on every one of us! As you can see from the performance earlier, it is really “in” to start with a simple kindness act. And I guarantee you, when someone returns with a smile, it really makes your day.

Closing

7. Finally, I would like to say a big thank you to all the hardworking principals, teachers and parents who are here today for your guidance and support to this movement. I would also like to commend the hardworking, passionate and committed Singapore Kindness Movement for their tireless efforts in inspiring and promoting graciousness. 

8. I hope all of us here will be encouraged to continue sharing and spreading kindness in every little way we can. Indeed “a nation of kindness starts with one”. Each and every one of us can play a part and should play a part. Step by step, little by little – we can motivate and encourage each other to be kinder and nicer, and trust me, every day can become brighter and lighter! Remember, start with a kindness act everyday!