In this circuit breaker cum summer break, we were heartened to have seen many students coming together to help those who have been badly hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. Among these benevolent youths who were spurred on to lend a helping hand to those in need, an inspiring singer from NUS Eusoff Hall put a creative spin on raising funds by holding a charity concert in aid of migrant workers in Singapore.
Today, we caught up with NUS’s “Rising Star” Top 20 finalist and Year 2 FASS student, Tan Lay Chun, to get in on how he turned his passion into profit for good.
What exactly was this concert about?
A few friends and I came together to plan an online charity concert. I sang about 20 songs in the first portion, followed by Audrey Chia – a fellow Eusoff Hall resident – who danced during the intermission. Another one of my JC friends who used to live in Sheares Hall, Evan Heng, volunteered to match every dollar that was raised during the event.
Source: Tan Lay Chun
What moved you to initiate this concert?
It’s heartbreaking to read the news nowadays, as there are so many people who are struggling to adjust during this time. However, in light of the mass spread of the virus among the dorm clusters, I felt most called to reach out to the migrant workers.
This vulnerable group of people left their homes behind in search of a better life for themselves and their families. Many of them have sacrificed a huge chunk of their lives to be here in Singapore, helping to build our nation.
Yet they are often not treated with humanity and respect. I can’t imagine what it is like to be in their shoes, going through so much in a foreign land so far away from home. We should do more for them, which is why I decided to help out in this small way that I can.
What was the planning process like?
It was a little difficult trying to figure out how to connect my microphone to the platform I was intending to use as the quality would deteriorate. In the end, after toggling with different apps, we decided to use Zoom, which was linked to a YouTube livestream.
Singing wise, I practised for about a month in advance, about two to four hours a day for each song. The prep process mainly consisted of finding the chords to play on the guitar and learning how to adapt each song to my natural range and key so that I would be able to conserve my voice for the duration of the entire concert.
What was the experience like and do you have any last pieces of advice?
I did Instagram live streams before so I wasn’t that nervous, especially since I kept it to a small audience of just my friends and maybe their parents at most. The only thing I was worried about was whether or not people would actually turn up on the day itself!
Thankfully, the concert went pretty well and there was an overall audience count of about 150 people. We also raised a total of $895 which was doubled by our sponsor, Evan. The money was then sent over to Transient Workers Count Too’s donation site.
All in all, this experience was really fulfilling, and made me realise that there are a lot of good-hearted and supportive people around me. I strongly encourage you to step out of your comfort zones and stand up for causes you believe in. There’s only good that can come out of it.
Source: Short snippet of Charity Concert
We hope Lay Chun’s story inspires you to think of ways in which you too can make a difference. Be it by holding bake sales, starting small side-hustles, or simply just setting up crowdfunding campaigns – there are many ways in which you can be of service to those around you.
Even buying an online gift card to help small businesses stay afloat during this period – like we mentioned in “Causes for Covid: The Reslife Guide (Save our Local Businesses)” – or simply showing an act of kindness to each other, is a small step towards a big difference.
More efforts – Peh Jia Rong and Crystal Ng from Eusoff Hall sold “Tako” soft toys to raise funds!
Source: “Tako For a Cause” Instagram page
If you would like to watch the full charity concert, click this link.
Do you know of any other interesting individuals or stories we can feature on our blog? Email us at reslife@u.nus.edu or catch us on Instagram @nusresidentiallife.
