Koh Choon Hui, the chairman of the Singapore Children's Society (SCS) has received prestigious Lifetime Volunteer Award for his outstanding contribution to almost 70000 children, who belong to poor families. His participation in this act has earned him the honour on Friday, October 20.
Since 2009, this award has been given by the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF). This is known as the highest honour for a voluntary work.
76-year-old dedicated 40-years of his life for such remarkable contribution and became the fifth person to have the privilege to receive the award.
According to The Straits Times, in a statement MSF addressed Koh as, "a champion for children's rights and issues locally and regionally".
MSF also said that for every month the chairman of SCS will visit all the society and its 12 service centres. According to MSF, Koh wants to look into the obstacles that his workers are facing and he wants to keep an update on the relevance of the programme.
Koh is not only known for his voluntary contribution but also recognized as a former managing director of Roche Singapore, the pharmacy company. Since 2010, he has been serving as a representative of the Government for the children's rights to the Asean Commission on Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children.
Every year the award is given to individuals for their contribution to MSF's cause. This year, 197 people received awards and Koh was one of them.
In 2017, three sets of parents received Outstanding Volunteer Award for adopting children who required special care. Two of the five recipients of the award have contributed in the social service sector to make the initiative influencing.
Jamilah Syed Ahmat and Hashim Abdullah were among those parents who took care of their adopted daughter for 20 long years. In the same statement which was published earlier, it was mentioned that the foster parent nurtured their daughter and helped her to cope up with her talking disabilities to make her a "confident and articulate person."
Anita Fam, the receiver of Outstanding Volunteer Award and an active leader and member of various boards and committees in the social service sector, also represents Families for Life Council and National Council of Social Service. She is also known for her role in Enabling Masterplan 3 Steering Committee.
Monica Seng also made it to the winner's list. For 17 years at a stretch she has been a Volunteer Probation Officer (VPO) and since 2015 she has been the chairman of the VPO Committee.
Desmond Lee, the minister of Social and Family Development department thanked the volunteers for their selfless social jobs.
"The volunteers whom we are recognising tonight serve in various capacities. But what they share in common is an instinctive heart to give themselves in service of others, and an intuitive spirit of giving back to the community," Desmond said.
