A staff member of ACJC’s Christian Ministry, Mrs Rosalind Tan first provided home-cooked food for students in 2001. The following year, then-PAT Chairperson Mrs Joyce Lee joined in to provide refreshments such as sandwiches. Soon, the spread expanded into a full dinner.

Tucking into the food offers a time to bond and relieve stress, as well as savings on pocket money!

This year, 69 parents gathered to serve nearly 7,000 meals during the exam period. The daily menu included pasta, fried rice, lasagne, satay, vegetables, shepherd’s pies and dessert. The team tried to provide at least one halal or vegetarian dish each time. Come 6 pm, eager students queued up for home-cooked treats and a break from their books to bond with their friends. They also got to save money!

Ten teams of five or six parents took turns so that each team cooked just once every other week. Members who did not cook took on transport duties or helped to defray the food expenses. The response, says ACJC Vice-Principal Mr Loo Ming Yaw, has been heart-warming. “There are parents whose children have already graduated but they come back to cook,” he points out. “They enjoy the camaraderie of working together and the joy in the students who come for dinner.”

“As young people, students need to eat a lot, and that costs a lot of money,” adds Mr Loo. “The Exam Food Ministry ensures that these students have at least a hearty meal each weekday for the seven weeks before the examinations. It takes the issue of where and how to get dinner, as well as the time needed, off their minds so that they can focus on their studies.”

Parents come from as far as East Coast to help cook and coordinate efforts during the exam period.

It may take up quite a lot of time and energy - including washing up - but the parents who prepared the meals have no qualms about their involvement. Take for example Mrs Grace Thomas, whose son Kenneth Nathanael Thomas has just completed his ‘A’ Levels. She helped to coordinate the schedule and ensure that all resources were collated in a timely manner for the students. “I strongly believe the PAT body of ACJC should continue this effort for a long time to come,” she says.

Homemaker Mrs Wendy Ang didn’t cook but provided liaison and logistical support for her team over six Mondays. Having been involved in parent support groups since her son Roy Athanasius Ang Tjin Shane was in Primary 1 (he’ll be in JC2 next year), she finds fulfilment in seeing “hungry kids being fed after long hours of studying, the smiles on their faces, and how they’re raring to hit the books again after the meal.”

Telecommunications consultant Mr Hygin Fernandez, whose son Hygin is in JC1, offered his cooking skills for six Tuesdays, noting that the effort “helps students stay focused and optimise their revision time.” Specialising in vegetarian dishes, Mr Fernandez shared his gratification in seeing “how thankful the students are and how we reinforce the feeling that we are all in this together.”

Tutor Mrs Leong Tai Wan and working parent Mrs Pearly Lim also contributed their cooking skills. “It’s a joy to feed the hungry students,” says Mrs Leong, whose daughter Lanthe Leong Yan Yi is in JC1. Sharing the same sense of mission is Mrs Lim, mother of JC2 student Maurice, who remarks, “We are often reminded of this need to care when students come up to us thanking us for the food provided. In the process of interacting with other parents, we can also better understand how our children are getting along in school.”