Lau (seated centre) gives words of encouragement to the student. Also seen are Shosa treasurer Lau Tiew Kiong (standing left) Yong and Chan (seated right).
SIBU (Jan 22): Senator Robert Lau Hui Yew has stepped forward to help a student of SMK Sacred Heart here.
Lau is funding school fees and miscellaneous educational expenses of the 16-year-old student whose left leg had to be amputated because of bone cancer. The Senator had also pre-paid the student’s food at the school canteen for the year.
“Lau has consistently responded to the Alumni’s call and stepped forward to help welfare of students and the school,” said Sacred Heart School Old Students Association (Shosa) vice president Anthony Chan during a luncheon for the student and his father to meet their benefactor yesterday.
He had also contributed towards numerous projects to help underprivileged students and inspired other alumni, Chan added.
Meanwhile, Shosa president Yong King Sung said Lau who was also a past president of the school alumni had kept the school’s ethos close to his heart.
“We were taught by the La Salle Brothers to always be there for the last, the lost and the least. Senator Lau as a former student of Sacred Heart has never faltered in this matter,” he said.
He stated that the school is blessed to have many students like Lau and hoped current students would emulate the kindness and gratitude of former students who returned to help their alma mater.
“We must all continue to ‘pay-it-forward’ so that future generations of students would benefit from this time-honoured tradition,” he added.
Sacred Heart School will be celebrating its 120th anniversary with a gala dinner tentatively this November. Former students are urged to contact Shosa for more details.