Little Life Warriors Easter Egg Hunt and Beach Day

WORDS: ELITA SEOW, JESSAMINE YIU AND BONITA LEUNG with ages ranging from 4 to 15 years old and accompanied by family members. Once everyone was changed and ready, we distributed the very cute collection baskets that LLWS had kindly organized and started the egg hunt. When “GO!!” was yelled, the Little Warriors and their siblings sprinted in every which direction collecting eggs – at light speed! It was pure joy seeing how happy they were and to be honest, we’ve never seen children run so fast with such intent and focus! Although we had originally planned for a 20-minute egg hunt, the Little Warriors totally outsmarted us so that what actually transpired was an epic 5-minute sprint and grab fest full of giggles and ecstatic squeals.

The RHKYC’s Charity Foundation has long partnered with the Little Life Warriors Society (LLWS), a charity that works to support children with cancer and those who have undergone a bone marrow transplant, by hosting events at the Club to provide some joy to the Little Warriors.

On April 2 the Charity Foundation once again had the opportunity, with the support of some wonderful Club members from the rowing and paddling section, to host the Little Warriors at Middle Island for a longawaited beach day. This beach day had been in the works since before Covid, and the volunteers were excited to finally be able to plan an event for the Little Warriors that would come to fruition!

An exciting morning was planned for the Little Warriors, starting with an Easter Egg scavenger hunt and followed by water sports such as kayaking and stand-up paddle-boarding activities. On the week leading up to the event, we were praying that the weather would change as we had a rainy cold front come in that week.We were thankful the day arrived without rain but remained cloudy and cool. The volunteers had not only spent the early morning setting up kayaks and paddle boards, but more importantly they had hidden over 500 Easter eggs spanning from the boat shed and amongst various nooks and crannies of rocks, canoes, sailing boats, dragon boats all the way across the hardstand.

We were met with 35 very extremely enthusiastic Little Warriors literally leaping off the sampan in their wet gear ready to hunt for eggs. These amazing Little Warriors who came to Middle Island are true survivors,

Once the egg loot was safely stowed away, beach activities commenced. We found out that it was the first time for many of the Little Warriors to experience paddle-boarding and kayaking. Although they had not experienced it before, it was heart warming to see how brave these little warriors were to just jump on a board or kayak and request that the volunteers (in bunny ears to lend a hand to the Easter Bunny!) take them out for longer paddles away from the beach. Despite the cooler weather, most of the Little Warriors were reluctant to leave the beach or water when it was time to get ready for lunch.

The day wrapped up with a hearty buffet and the Little Warriors were gifted Easter gift baskets from our volunteers. It was a fantastically fun day for both the Little Warriors and our volunteers, with smiles to last for miles! Many thanks to all our volunteers, Club staff, and the Charity Foundation for giving us the opportunity to share a fun Beach and Easter Egg Hunt Day with the Little Warriors!