Sam is an nine-year-old boy who lost his mother when he was three. His father is imprisoned due to drugs. He stays with his grandmother now, and she is not getting younger.
In the past, Sam would wait patiently for his grandmother to end her work in the food court every day and they would go home together. Her love and care for him was great and immeasurable.
All was good until one day, Sam went through an obnoxious episode of taken by a stranger to his place and was inappropriately touched. As innocent as a young child would be, he had confided in his grandmother, who got really furious. She believed that it was not safe for him to wait for her at the food court anymore.
Out of an unconditional love, his grandmother hired a nanny to take care of Sam while she worked. If she only knew that this nanny, who promised to look after Sam when his grandmother was away at work, would beat Sam so painfully that he cried for her to come back home.
It was not long after that Sam’s grandmother was diagnosed with a heart problem. It was imperative and necessary to go for heart surgery. This made young Sam fear for her life.
Things took a turn for the better when Life Community Services Society (LCSS) came to the aid of Sam’s family.
How LCSS Reaches Out
LCSS is a registered charitable organisation and a member of the National Council of Social Service (NCSS). They work with children and families, who are mostly from the lower income group, and children whose parent(s) is/are presently or formerly incarcerated. These programmes help over 950 children from various races, religions and ages across the four core services: Friends of Children (FOC), Friends of Youth (FOY), Life Student Care (LSC), as well as MightyKids, Families & Community (MightyKFC).
LCSS not only provides Sam and his grandmother with food, they showered them with emotional support too. They also filed a police report and helped to arrest the stranger who touched him inappropriately. In fact, the staff who frequently visits Sam and his grandmother, just celebrated Sam’s birthday recently!
LCSS seek to provide care and support for children and youths with parent(s) who are presently or formerly incarcerated. They understand the anxieties of these children and youths, who are separated from their parents, and often go through shame and stigma. These anxieties and fear can impact their emotional growth and development as they grow up.
As a non-profitable charitable organization, LCSS aims to raise a fund of $400,000 to defray the costs of their four core programmes. Also, they are looking forward to creating public awareness in supporting children with incarcerated parents like Sam, who lost his mother at a tender age and sometimes suffer from various physical and sexual abuses too.
This is also the reason why they are organising this race, Run For Life.
This is how you, as a runner, can help Sam and LCSS. By signing up for Run For Life, the proceeds will go towards funding LCSS programmes. You will help more than 950 children and youths of different races and religions who come from underprivileged and disadvantaged families, bringing more smiles and laughter into their lives.
There are three categories in the event: 10km Adult Competitive, 3.8km Family Walk & Run and a 500m Kids Dash. Mr Seah Kian Peng, Deputy Speaker of the Parliament, MP for Marine Parade GRC, will be the Guest-of-Honour for Run for Life. The race will flag off at East Coast Park on 8th June at 7.00 a.m. sharp.
Fellow runners, you will be thrilled when you know this: Sam is an avid runner who loves running with the volunteers from LCSS!
“Even the smallest act of caring for another person is like a drop of water – it will make ripples throughout the entire pond.” – Jessy and Bryan Matteo.
Run with Sam by signing up for Run For Life at www.runforlife.sg now!
