Alliance for Betterment of Community Day (ABCD) - HokkienButton Award

It was a bittersweet moment as the award was announced and Fiona made her way up the stage to give her acceptance speech. Button was awarded the Public Welfare Ambassador award posthumously. Sweet because this award was a pat on the back for a job well done. Bitter because the one that it was awarded to is no longer with us and was not able to go up on stage to receive her well-deserved belly rub.

L to R : Ms Ms Sun Xueling (Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs & Ministry of National Development), Fiona and Mr  Tan Cheng Gay (陈精毅), president of Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan: 

Alliance for Betterment of Community Day (ABCD) is an annual event jointly organised by Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan, Teochew Poit Ip Huay Kuan, Kowloon Club and Jiangsu Association (Singapore). This year's event had a theme of “Charity for one and all” to promote the spirit of kindness and hopes to encourage charitable acts across communities. As part of this event, people were invited to submit stories of their experience in carrying out community work with values-driven social impact, of which 8 would be selected to receive a cash award of $5,000 each to help with their social causes.

All winners in every way 

A video of Button's work as a pet therapy dog at Assisi Hospice was submitted which was not only selected as 1 of the 8 winners of the cash award, but also specially mentioned by 1 of the judges, Ms Ellen Lee, as 1 of the more special ways in which charity is shown to the elderly.

Left photo is when Button was first found

Button passed away from pancreatitis this April 2018, a mere 23 months after her adoption. Though she was not able to receive her award personally, we believed that she was up there on stage with Fiona, wagging her tail and feeling all pleased with herself because that was just the dog she was in life. That a senior rescue such as Button could pay it forward to society despite her humble beginnings, she deserved to be smug. HOPE, too, is extremely proud of Button. Humans, caught up in the daily grind and only focused on the rat race, can stand to learn much from a dog like Button but the main takeaway from this award is that you are never too old (or too furry) to be charitable to those around you.

Button at work as a pet therapy dog at Assisi Hospice with one of her favourite patients, Aunty Rosie. 

This was Button. Be like Button. Do not let charity stop with you. Keep paying it forward and work towards making this a better place for all in out community, humans and furry friends alike.

Special needs dogs, SiDa and Harper, undergoing training to be pet therapy dogs as well. 

Written by : Sam