Monday February 6, 2012

Nonagenarian reminisces as resort employees come a-calling

By C.S. NATHAN
metro@thestar.com.my
Photos by UU BAN LEONG

ALTHOUGH he looks forward to the Chinese New Year season, the celebration itself is bittersweet for nonagenarian Chan Yin Meng who often reminisces his younger days when the festive occassion was celebrated with relatives and close friends.

However, the 92-year-old bachelor and resident of the Sikamat Old Folks Home in Seremban was pleasantly surprised and touched when hotel employees from Nilai Springs Resort visited the centre and brought festive cheer and joy to its residents.

“Chinese New Year is a time for rejoicing with family and friends but most of my pals have passed on and I do not have a family of my own.

“I was really touched when the hotel team stopped by and spent the afternoon with us,” he said.

Hotel employees serenaded the seniors with a medley of Chinese New Year tunes and popular songs like Rasa Sayang and Jingli Nona.

Time for music: Nilai Springs Resort Hotel employees serenading the residents of the Sikamat Old Folks Home.

It was the first time the 16 residents of the home, aged between 63 and 92, had a taste of a full hotel spread and live music.

Chan, who was visibly excited and taken aback by the visit, said he enjoyed the music most of all.

“It is something completely different, the musicians played songs for us while we were having our meal.

“It brought back memories of days gone by and I felt really sentimental,” he said.

The party atmosphere kicked off with the tossing of yee sang, before each guest was served with food and drinks by the team from the hotel.

Another resident Chin Khun Tee, 72, said the hotel employees made her feel like a VIP.

Gift from the heart: How handing out ang pow to the residents during the luncheon.

“They waited on us and kept asking if we wanted more food or drink. They were just like our own children, caring about our needs,” she said.

Nilai Springs Resort Hotel general manager G.K. How handed out ang pow to the senior citizens and chatted with them while his team entertained the guests.

How said his team visited the home to bring Chinese New Year cheer to its residents and share the festive joy with them.

“It is our way of giving back to the community. It is really about sharing, caring and respecting our elders,” he said.

How expressed his gratitude to hotel guests and generous donors who contributed to making the luncheon a success.

“We organised a fund-raising campaign in December for the seniors where we sold snacks, cookies and even golf balls to raise money for the home.

“In one month, we collected RM4,000, most of which we used to buy groceries for the home,” he said.

How also presented the home’s chairman Lee Ah Chai with RM1,000 for the upkeep of the facility and groceries including bags of rice, sacks of onions and potatoes, biscuits and other foodstuff for the residents.

Lee commended the hotel’s efforts and thanked the employees for taking the trouble to prepare lunch and fete the old folks.

“You can see how excited the residents are from the look on their faces.

“It was very generous of the team to take time out and spend it with the old folks here,” he said, adding that only those without children of their own were admitted to the home.