Community Chest charity TV show raises more than S$16 million
The Community Chest: Uniting Hearts 2023 Charity TV Show, which was held on Sunday (Sep 24), included performances by local and international artistes.
President Tharman Shanmugaratnam was the guest of honour at the Uniting Hearts 2023 Charity TV Show, held on Sep 24 at The Theatre at Mediacorp. (Photo: Ministry of Communications and Information)
The Uniting Hearts 2023 Charity TV Show was held on Sunday (Sep 24) at The Theatre at Mediacorp in celebration of Community Chest’s 40th anniversary. The show was also screened on Channel 8.
The event raised a grand total of S$16,715,758 that will go towards supporting more than 200 critical social service programmes that benefit children with special needs and youth-at-risk, adults with disabilities, persons with mental health conditions and families and seniors in need of support.
More than 1,200 people were in the audience including guest of honour President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and his wife Jane Ittogi.
The three-hour show was hosted by Gao Mei Gui, Guo Liang, Kym Ng and Dennis Chew, and included performances by international artistes The Winners and Ricky Hsiao, as well as local celebrities and members of the community.
Local music icon Kit Chan took to the stage to sing two classic tunes: Liking You and If There Are Seasons.
Hsiao belted out two of his signature songs Last Train and What Grandma Said, while Hong Kong band The Wynners performed three songs: Sha La La La La, Stay with Her and Thousand Years Unchanged.
Visually impaired performing artiste Claire Teo and local actress Bonnie Loo sang Jolin Tsai’s hit I, as fellow local artistes He Ying Ying, Herman Keh, Tay Ying and Jensen Wang accompanied the performance with a dance number.
Mr Tharman also briefly participated in the show when he passed a ball to wheelchair-bound players from the Wheelchair Basketball Association who were onstage.
The players showcased their skills in a choreographed performance featuring various basketballs drills and tricks with local artistes Jeffrey Xu and Chase Tan attempting to keep up.
There was also a piano performance by Dr Azariah Tan and piano prodigy Mikkel Myer Lee, as well as a song performance by Chua Enlai, Rahimah Rahim and Udaya Soundari.
For the finale, actor Desmond Tan and singer Annette Lee sang a duet of the Mandarin song, The Sun, as the final artwork of the Community project, titled Trees of Hope, was unveiled.
Local artiste Edmund Chen led volunteers to put the final touches on the artwork featuring cardboard trees and animals, which serves as a symbolic representation of the collaboration within the community to support those in need.
You can catch a repeat telecast of the Community Chest: Uniting Hearts 2023 Charity TV Show on Channel 8 on Oct 1 at 3.30pm.
