CSCC - Caritas Singapore Community Council

Morning Star Community Services (MSCS)

		Morning Star’s mission is to enrich and strengthen family relationships in Singapore. They provide practical skills and support for the social, emotional and spiritual well-being of families and serve to develop the potential of every individual within the family. Through empowering families and individuals, they strive to build vibrant communities that can make a difference to society.

>> Key Personnel



Spiritual Director	:	Rev Fr Henry Siew

Board
President	:	Gerald Tan
Vice-President	:	Christina Lim
Secretary	:	Augustine Low
Treasurer	:	Francis Ng
Immediate Past President	:	Jeremy Tay

Committee Members	:	Brown Pereira,
		Alan Ow,
		Joseph Yeo,
		Sr Margaret Goh

Staff
Executive Director	:	Christian Choo
Corporate Services	:	Agnes Tan
Community Partnerships	:	Petrine Woo
Student Care Services	:
Learning Support Services	:	Jacquelyn Tan
Family Wellness	:	Kelvyanne Teoh
Social Work Services	:	Juliana Choo

>> Programmes and Activities

Student Care Services

Morning Star Before and After School service supports the needs of families who need care and guidance for their primary school going children during their off-school hours.

The programme entails holistic and balanced activities to enhance children’s intellectual abilities, emotional development, social skills, character formation and physical growth.

NOVA - Learning Support Services

Learning Support Services addresses and supports the unique needs of an emerging group of children and their families who are struggling with meeting the demands of education.

Every child in NOVA has his/her own individualized learning programme tailored according to his/her learning abilities and areas of needs. Partnering parents, family members, school teachers, and various allied professionals, NOVA builds upon the child’s level of competencies and scaling upwards to mastery.

By providing the right environment, choices and learning opportunities, the child’s learning experience is greatly enhanced and develops independency.

Family Wellness Programmes

Family Life Education

Morning Star believes the element of understanding is an essential first step to transformational change.

The approach and methodology aims to give depth of understanding that is holistic and relevant for the participants. Linking the experiential experiences in the programme to the actual circumstance, participants are able to make sense of the part they play in the situation they are in. This then allows them to make better informed choices.

Morning Star’s Family Life Education includes Parenting Workshops, Parent-Child Workshops, Parent-Teen Workshops, Marriage Enrichment and Life Skills Workshops.

Family Support Groups

Family Support Groups provide opportunities for families members to feel safe to share openly. It is beneficial as group members are able to identify common issues and patterns, and explore ways to cope better. They give moral support to one another and learn ways to support and care for themselves and their family members.

Community Events

Community events aim to outreach new families and provide a platform for service users and past participants of our programmes to build meaningful connections, gain support from each other and serve together as a family and among friends.

Connections Under the Stars is one such event where families are gathered to have fun, share experiences and make new family friends. Families enjoy the outdoor with potluck food and music. More than just fun and games, it is educational and healing to hear other families' experiences.

My Family Times is a series of activities designed to focus on parents and their child working together in relaxed and positive ways that cemented bonding. When family members got together to partake in such activities that focused on experiencing each other in a non-performance manner, unique experiences for the family occur, thus forming lasting and treasured memories.

Counselling

Morning Star believes that when people understand their needs, feelings, thoughts, beliefs and coping, in facilitating self and interpersonal awareness, effective choice-making relevant to their context becomes obvious and possible. Families and individuals will benefit from positive changes on a personal level and with family members.

Counselling service is available to individuals, couples and families.

Social Work Services

Social Work Services identifies individuals and families in need early in order to assist them with the necessary support, before further problems develop if intervention is delayed. They also attend to queries and provide relevant information. Clients are referred to various social service agencies and government bodies for the required assistance. Case management service offers to work more in depth with individuals and families.

Morning Star Family Resource Centres in the prisons outreach to inmates families and guide them in receiving the assistance and support they need. As their problems are highly complex and extensive, case management service was introduced in order to be effective in working with these families.

>> Beneficiaries

>> Corporate and Contact Information

Morning Star Community Services was formed in 1999 as a community service project of the Catholic Archdiocese of Singapore to enrich and strengthen family relationships. They were registered as a society in 27 Sept 2002 (RoS No. 0244/2002) and a charity in 27 Nov 2002 (Charity Reg No. 001636) and a member of the National Council of Social Service in 2003 and IPC status (IPC000103) from 1 Aug 2008 – 31 Jul 2012.

Financial Year End	:	31 January

Auditors	:	Edward Lee & Co.

Organisation Name	:	Morning Star Community Services

Address	:	No. 4 Lorong Low Koon,
		Singapore 534450
Tel (Gen)	:	6285-1377
Fax	:	6285-2702
Website	:	www.morningstar.org.sg

Contact Person	:	Christian Choo
Tel	:	6285-1377
Email	:	Christian@morningstar.org.sg

>> Financials

Financial Snapshot

	Financial Year	FY2009	FY2010	FY2011

	Receipts and Expenses
	Total Receipts	$1,522,195	$1,973,485	$1,992,480
	Total Expenditure	$1,302,455	$1,389,249	$1,579,504
	Surplus/(Deficit)	$219,740	$584,236	$412,976

	Balance Sheet
	Total Assets	$1,041,617	$1,565,077	$1,973,718
	Total Liabilities	$167,187	$161,966	$206,795
	Accumulated Funds	$874,430	$$1,403,111	$1,766,923


Financial Report

Morning Star in Catholic News (PDF Filesize: 4.17MB)