On 11 November 2011, dedicated tutors and support staff involved in SINDA’s STEP and Teach programmes were honoured with special recognition in an awards ceremony held at SINDA. SINDA’s Vice Presidents Mr Viswa Sadasivan and Mr Shabbir Hasanbhai and Executive Committee member, Mr Puvan Ariaratnam, presented awards and tokens of appreciation to STEP centre principals, tutors and Project Teach tutors who have been instrumental in motivating and tutoring students on the STEP and Project Teach programmes for the past 15 years.

Ms Guo Yanyan, a Centre Administrator at Mayflower STEP Centre for  10 years now says, “ I am energised by students as we talk about anything under the sky, from their CCAs to guessing what’s for snack … I go home everyday delighted, knowing that we are making a real difference to the world. Thank you SINDA for your faith and trust in me.”  

An appreciation lunch for SINDA’s ‘Celebrate’ volunteers was held on 26 November 2011 to thank volunteers who assisted with SINDA’s festive gift bag distribution this year. This included partners and volunteers from the DHL Global Mail Singapore, HSBC Bank, SAFFRON, Singapore Kadayanallur Muslim League, Aflaaq Stars Educational and Cultural Society and the SINDA Youth Club.

On the same day, SINDA’s Vice President, Mr Viswa Sadasivan, distributed festive gift bags to needy families celebrating Christmas. Each Christmas festive gift bag contains a greeting card, Christmas gift and NTUC vouchers.

This year, a total of 1,200 families celebrating Hari Raya Puasa, Deepavali and Christmas celebrations received SINDA’s festive gift bags.