But with Covid-19 at large, there was little room for cheer.
Instead, Chung Ling’s class of 1986 – also known as Chung Ling Old Boys 86 (CLOB86) – banded together for a more meaningful cause. In just two weeks, they raised money to run a food bank on Beach Street, helping 300 to 400 hungry families who lined up at their door each day.
“With the white flag campaign, we saw people were in need of help, and so 80 of our classmates pitched in,” Oh Haw Kuang, 53, tells FMT.
“A few classmates volunteered by asking their companies to donate rice and bread, while the rest of us helped by raising funds.”
Donations poured in from as near as Kuala Lumpur and Singapore to as far as Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand. The Old Boys raised RM76,000 among themselves, while another RM34,000 in food and monetary contributions came from friends and family members.
Thanks to everyone’s generosity, the food bank was up and running on July 12. Penangites from as far as Air Itam and Farlim rode early buses into George Town for a chance to bring back food for their families.
“There was an old man who was there by 8am,” Oh recalls. “We told him we only opened at 10am and that he would be standing there for two hours, but he said he didn’t mind as it was more important for him to get food for his family.”
Some people even stood in line for their neighbours. Oh remembers talking to a woman who had difficulty walking, and learnt she had come the day before but had given her food to her next-door neighbour who had had a stroke.
Oh says he was taken aback by the woman’s generosity and the lengths some people go to help others when they, themselves, are struggling.
The last day of the Old Boys’ initiative would have been July 23 had the police not showed up the day before.
“They shut us down as the queue was getting too long,” Oh says, explaining that a 300-person queue had formed on Beach Street.
One of Oh’s classmates on the scene said they had tried working out a plan to manage the crowd with the police’s help, but had ultimately decided to send everyone home for their safety and to abide by social-distancing rules.
Nevertheless, CLOB86’s efforts did not end there – the Old Boys tirelessly spent the next two days driving around and distributing food in 25 locations.
Thanks to them, struggling families, charitable organisations, and homes filled with seniors, orphans and the disabled had food on their plates for a few more days.
While Chung Ling’s class of 1986 were unable to gather this year, Oh says all “their hearts are here”. They went above and beyond during this difficult time to help the Penang community, making this year’s anniversary their most memorable one yet.