“Espoir” meaning “hope” in French signifies the hope of beneficiaries from the Muscular Dystrophy Association Singapore (MDAS) for a better future. The team of four Secondary Three students from Nanyang Girls High School initiated this project to raise awareness, raise funds to aid patients and activate Singapore from all walks of life to help the cause. They were also there to encourage charitable hearts for the less fortunate.

The team conducted street sales to sell attractive items - cartoon badges specially designed by the beneficiaries, stress balls with the Espoir team name, 3-in-1 pens and notebooks – while distributing MDAS flyers to the public. They also organized a carnival called Wheel Power, which ran concurrently with an event called heart2heart. This is to appeal to the public to write notes of encouragement on heart shaped pieces of paper to beneficiaries who suffer from muscular dystrophy. Despite a ban on school activities during the H1N1 outbreak, the team still managed to recruit 158 volunteers through Facebook and blogs.

Their passion and dedication also attracted media attention. Wheel Power was featured in Lianhe Zaobao and the team was interviews on News 93.8FM. MDAS was also at hand to provide publicity support.

The team managed to raise $23, 808.25 in funds and reached out to an estimated 8,000 members of the public.