LION SERENE YONG CHIN HWEE

Lion Serene C H Yong has been a member of Lions Club of Singapore Ladyhill since 1990. She founded Overseas Academic Link Pte Ltd (OAL) in 1990. Together Lion Serene Yong and OAL had donated more than $200,000 to the Lions Community Service Foundation from July 2009. In November 2011 she donated $100,500 thus qualifying her to the Foundation’s Roll of Honour.

In recognition of her service to Lionism, Lion Serene Yong was conferred the following awards by her club:-

Lion of the Year – 1991/1992, 1996/1997

Treasurer Award – 1992/1993

Outstanding Performance Award -1993/1994

President’s Appreciation Award – 1995/1996

President’s Special Award – 1997/1998

Lion Serene Yong holds the position of 3rd Vice President of LCS Ladyhill for FY2011/2012. To commemorate OAL’s 21st Anniversary in 2009/2010, her Company donated substantial amounts to both Lions Foundation and Lions Home for the Elders. In 2011 besides the donation to Lions Foundation that qualified her to its Roll of Honour, they also donated a further $50,000 to the Lions Home for the Elders.

In her professional capacity Ms Serene Yong has been appointed to an honorary position as Governor at University College at the University of Melbourne, in recognition of her contribution to responsible international student recruitment.

Overseas Academic Link Pte Ltd

Overseas Academic Link Pte Ltd (OAL) provides services in the specialist field of education counseling and international student recruitment. It was established in 1990.

Ms Serene Yong, OAL’s founder and Principal, has over twenty five years’ experience as an education agent. OAL’s byline, “The Bridge Between Student And University”, epitomizes the dual role that it performs.

• On the one hand, OAL exists to assist each client university or school to attract its desired target enrolment of suitably qualified international students.
• On the other hand, OAL exists to help students achieve their academic goals, by placing them successfully into suitable universities and schools.

OAL is known and respected both in Singapore and internationally. It has a reputation of quality service to both students and institutions. It is known for its efficiency and its willingness to ‘go the second mile’, as well as its personal service. Universities and schools that use OAL to recruit students in Singapore do so with confidence.

OAL represents universities and colleges in Australia, Britain, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Switzerland and the USA.

OAL’s services have been recognized by a number of institutions

• OAL was the inaugural recipient of a University of Melbourne Overseas Representatives Award.
• OAL has been selected on two occasions as Monash University’s Adviser of the Month.
• OAL was the recipient of the Study Group Gold Agent Award 2003 and 2004.
• OAL was awarded the Certificate of Achievement from Monash University for Outstanding Service to the International Education Industry in Feb 2011.

Ms Serene Yong has been appointed to an honorary position as Governor at University College at the University of Melbourne, in recognition of her contribution to responsible international student recruitment.

To commemorate OAL’s 21st Anniversary in 2009/2010, it raised fund and donated a total of $203,335 to Lions Community Service Foundation Singapore and Lions Home for the Elders.

In 2011 OAL and its founder and Principal donated $100,500 to LCSF and $50,000 to Lions Home for the Elders, thus qualifying both to the Foundation’s Roll of Honour.

THE LATE LION ENG AH KOON
PAST INTERNATIONAL DIRECTOR, LIONS CLUBS INTERNATIONAL
Charter President, Lions Club of Singapore East (Chartered on 9 Jan 1961)

The 3rd District Governor of Provisional District 308 in 1963 comprising of only 16 clubs, the Late PID Eng Ah Koon fought an election against Douglas K K Lee (since PID Dato` Douglas K K Lee) at a District Convention in Victoria Hall, Singapore to become the first full District Governor of District 308 in 1967, when a minimum of only 20 clubs with a membership of 750 was needed for a full District. (LCI now requires 35 clubs and 1250 members to form a full District.) PID Eng served as a 100% District Governor and as member of the District Governor’s Cabinet as District Honorary Chairman.

Then PDG Eng Ah Koon was successfully nominated in 1977 as a candidate for International Director, against PDG Pius Martin (the late PCC), at the District Convention in Kuala Lumpur (with only 8 clubs in Singapore out of over 70 in the District), and endorsed by OSEAL Forum in Manila in 1977 to become the first International Director from District 308 at the International Association’s 61st annual convention in Tokyo, Japan, held from 21 to 24 June 1978.

For his services to Lionism at club, district and international levels, the Late PID Eng Ah Koon received five International President’s medals and also the highest International award, the Ambassador of Goodwill during his term of office as International Director. He also received three Extension Awards, a Master Key, an Old Monarch Award for 15 years of charter membership in the Lions Movement.

To promote harmony among Lions, he used to explain how each Lion was different like the five fingers of a hand but all indispensable! His commitment to Lionism was so intense that he was the only Past Officer of the Association to attend the consecration of the Lions Befrienders in 1995 when most of the Lions leaders in Singapore were opposed to the Lions Clubs taking over the programme from the government. Thereafter, he attended every LBSA Annual Award & Appreciation function with his wife, Louise, even when she, and later himself was wheelchair bound.

As he had accumulated his riches by the dint of his frugal discipline, it showed in his interpersonal behaviour and which led to his being a butt of many affectionate anecdotes among Lions. PID Eng was Managing Director of Bintang (Pte) Limited. He has also been a stockbroker and supervisor of labour for the British Military Administration and recipient of the 1939-45 British War Medal.

The Late PID Eng was a Life member of the Singapore Red Cross Society, the St. John Ambulance Association, the Singapore Cancer Society and Vice President of the Singapore Jaycees. He was also a Council Member of the Singapore Anti-Tuberculosis Association, a member of the Advisory Board of the Singapore Social Welfare Department Boys Hostel and had served for eight years as a member of the panel of advisors to the Magistrate Juvenile Court of Singapore.

PID Eng Ah Koon passed away on 25th November 2008, bequeathing a substantial part of his estate to Charity. In 2010 the Estate donated a total of $153,000 to Lions Community Service Foundation Singapore, of which $100,000 was set aside for its Endowment Fund, $43,000 to the MD308 Skill Development Trust Fund and $10,000 to the District308-A1 Lions Leadership Development Fund.

In recognition of the substantial contribution of the Late PID Eng Ah Koon to LCSF, the Board of Directors in 2011 created the Eng Ah Koon Fellow to be bestowed on any Lion who donates at least $1,000 to the Foundation. The first Eng Ah Koon Fellows were bestowed on 14 Lions donors at the Foundation’s Annual General Meeting on July 9, 2011.

THE LATE PETER Y S FU
PAST INTERNATIONAL DIRECTOR, LIONS CLUBS INTERNATIONAL

The Late PID Peter Fu Yun Siak donated $100,000 in 2003 to kick start the Lions Community Service Foundation after it was officially registered as a Charity in Singapore. As the donation was designated to the Lions Home for the Elders, the fund was transferred to Lions Home and duly acknowledged by its Management Board as a donation from the Foundation.

A Charter member of the Lions Club of Singapore East, PID Peter Fu had been the President of his club for two consecutive years in the late 1960’s, and a couple of years later in 1971. He served as Governor of District 308 and was Chairman of the first Forum for Orient and South East Asia Lions (OSEAL) to be held in Singapore and MD308. Peter was Forum Chairman again 14 years later when the Forum rotated back to Singapore, earning him the coveted award of the Ambassador of Goodwill, the highest award bestowed by Lions Clubs International to a member for service of distinction.

A humble man of inestimable talents and refined manners, he amassed a fortune but, by his own account, without the benefit of a formal education. “You are now on your own to either float like a cork or sink like a rock!” That challenge and Peter’s exemplar qualities led to a highly diversified multinational business empire! Though extremely busy with his business affairs he remained passionately committed to the Lions objectives “to serve the indigent and needy members of the community” and “to unite the Lions in bonds of friendship and mutual understanding”.

Through his many initiatives, he became a pillar of Lionism in this region. He founded MD308 and served as its first Council Chairperson in 1983. He established a RM100,000 trust fund to enable the MD Council of Governors to promote unity and harmony among its members in its three countries.

As he firmly believed that Lionism could only succeed through harmony, he encouraged the formation of the Lions Community Service Foundation in Singapore after it became a separate district within the MD. He was the Chairman of the pro-tem committee that registered the LCSF with the Registrar of Societies and was so supportive of the idea that the Lions in Singapore could be united in raising funds through a single entity for the benefit of all our programmes that he donated $100,000 to kick-start the Foundation.