Author: SG Volunteer Team

A government-appointed hawker centre consultation panel has recommended social enterprises run hawker centres of the future, with aims of giving the disadvantaged jobs, and providing the community with affordable food.

Meanwhile, some social enterprises in the food industry have already taken the first step to offer jobs to the disadvantaged.

One of the social enterprises is Dignity Kitchen, where 33-year-old Norjumanese works.

Norjumanese, who is blind, said: “Dignity Kitchen has fulfilled some of my dreams. Besides being a cashier, I am able to sing and be an entertainer.”

Norjumanese is one of 30 disadvantaged people working at Dignity Kitchen, a training school cum food centre operator.

Students there are trained in food stall operations, food preparation, kitchen safety and simple cooking.

Dignity Kitchen has even found jobs for some 50 of its former trainees in other food establishments.

Dignity Kitchen executive director Koh Seng Choon said he hopes to do more than just teach a skill.

He said: “What we try to do is not to just teach you a skill; what we want to do is to give you back your self-respect and dignity. That is harder to do.”

Mr Koh added: “One of my workers has some urinary problems and I know… he doesn’t have CPF, so basically what we do now is give him options. For example, this month’s rental you don’t pay — you pay me after one month.”

Another social enterprise which hopes to play a role in future hawker centres is Breakthrough Cafe.

It employs ex-offenders, such 38-year-old Derrick Ee, who said he hopes to use the experience to set up a food business in future.

Mr Ee said: “We also have a chance to do all those stock checking and ordering of stocks and then, this all helps us in terms of our future life.

“My sister and her husband actually approached me to [set up] a stall of our own, like a small coffee shop. So from the experience that I gain from here, of course, I can give them advice and help them to set up the coffee shop.”

Breakthrough Cafe executive director Simon Neo said: “When they finish their programme, they can start their own business, and they can also continue to contribute to society in the hawker centre.”

The aim of getting social enterprises to run hawker centres includes giving the disadvantaged jobs, and providing the community with affordable food.

This article was first published in CNA

Lets face it; it’s hard to look away from Pinterest. The hottest new social media site has become a go-to source for the latest shopping tips, design advice and funny dog pictures. Who wouldn’t want to sit there all day and stare?

As Pinterest fans are discovering through the growing legion of companies that are marketing and selling products via the site, Pinterest also has great commerce potential. Nordstrom, Real Simple, Fresh Direct and even Major League Baseball, for example, have all developed active pages that encourage user interactivity.

But to take full advantage of Pinterest’s possibilities, businesses should also be thinking about the site as a way to highlight their philanthropic endeavors and promote corporate volunteerism. In so doing, companies can increase employee participation in volunteer and giving programs and earn the goodwill of other Pinterest users and potential customers.

How does Pinterest work as a tool for employee volunteer promotion?

Unlike Twitter and Facebook, images are key to Pinterest. This means that to successfully promote and encourage volunteering efforts, photos must be at the forefront of the initiative. Pinterest-interested businesses should thus encourage employees to take photos while they volunteer; use pictures in company handbooks to explain the company’s volunteering opportunities; and keep extra snapshots available so there is content in reserve to regularly update the Pinterest page.

Need more reasons to start “pinning” your corporate social responsibility initiatives? Here are four other ways that Pinterest can promote corporate volunteerism:
1. Motivation

Employees often just need a trigger to pick up a cause, and sometimes this motivation comes from seeing others engaged in positive work. That’s why showing good work in action – or the results of that good work – can easily inspire others to do likewise. And don’t forget the potential of food for thought pieces; just posting motivational quotes can encourage employees to start volunteering.
2. Support

Pinterest offers a compelling way to support those who are already volunteering. Say that one of your employees wants to raise funds for a particular nonprofit; why not post information about their mission on the company Pinterest page? Sharing these sorts of visual updates could encourage company-wide support while inspiring others to start their own fundraisers. Combine that with a company match of some sort and you’ve got a great way to help your employee reach his or her goal as fast as possible.
3. Engagement

Gamification is a hot buzzword these days, and when this sort of competition is applied to corporate volunteer programs it can generate significant employee engagement. Through the use of solutions like Causecast’s Employee Impact Platform, companies can develop entire volunteer campaigns around a competitive goal, like prizes for those who raise the most funds. In this case, participants can use Pinterest as another tool to post updates about their progress and efforts. For instance, seeing Dan next to a photo of 100 canned foods may motivate Sue to bring in 110 the next day. With a prize that encourages participation, seeing the frontrunner in photos can go a long way towards firing up the competitive juices of other employees.
4. Interaction

With visuals featured so prominently, Pinterest can also be used as a way to interact with employees around volunteering. A picture speaks a thousand words, so posting a photo of an animal shelter set to close down and asking how co-workers can help could lead to active brainstorming. Once ideas get rolling, who knows what’s possible? A charity drive may come together, or a Saturday for employee volunteering may form. But planting the seed can offer tremendous results, with little cost.

Besides the obvious goodwill generated, the final outcome of all of these ideas can be to create fantastic content for your company’s Pinterest page. And if Pinterest is used as a vehicle to promote your overall corporate volunteering efforts, these compelling photos and interactions can bode well for your company’s employee engagement levels.

So the next time you plan a company volunteer outing, just remember to “Pin it.”

This article was first published in Mashable

Meet Prince, a male dog that was on the brink of death but is now slowly recovering.

The story of the 5-year-old canine – believed to be a poodle – began when on 16 April an unidentified breeder left it at Pet Clinic in Serangoon to be put down..

At the time the dog was a lifeless, emaciated bag of bones that weighed a 2.4 kilos. A normal healthy dog his age weighs four to five kilos.

He was eventually rescued when a customer at the clinic saw Prince – who was then too weak to even walk or eat properly — and contacted HOPE Dog Rescue, a group of volunteer animal rescuers that has been around since 2011.

The organisation helped take daily care of Prince at the clinic at Mount Pleasant Veterinary Centre.

Fiona Foo, founder of HOPE, said that when she first saw Prince, it “looked like a frozen chicken from the supermarket.”

Subsequent checks by veterinarians revealed that besides being under-nourished and possibly physically abused, Prince was also suffering from a litany of health ailments: kidney and liver failure, tick fever and autoimmune problems. He was also severely anaemic and needed a blood transfusion.

Prince was taken home last Saturday by fosterer, Soh. The 41-year-old secretary is now helping to take care of the dog until it gets healthy and can be re-homed.

The first night Prince stayed at Soh’s house, it was so sick and afraid that it could not walk or move out of a mat Soh laid out for it in her kitchen.

“When I called Prince, he lifted one leg up and wanted to come out of the mat but he stopped for a second and drew his leg back in. Perhaps in the past, he had been scolded or beaten for stepping out of his area,” said Soh.

Soh said in order to help him sleep lying down, she had to wrap him up like a baby and flip him down on his bed. She suspects that Prince cannot sleep lying down because he had been kept in a tiny cage that didn’t allow him to move much, let alone sleep properly. To make matters worse, Prince has developed pressure sores on his bum from sitting down for long periods.

Previously, Prince would sleep sitting up and nod to sleep. To make it easier for him to sleep, volunteers would stack a tower of towels to support his head from nodding. “He’s very weak and not recovering fast enough because he doesn’t get enough sleep,” said Foo.

“Someone has to stay with him and the minute we move our hands, he’ll stand up in attention again because that’s how he’s been sleeping all his life,” added Soh.

But it seems the care and attention has been working. Prince is now able to walk and run slowly, and even barked on Tuesday.

The plight of abandoned dogs

HOPE says Prince is just one of thousands of dogs raised by dog breeders for commercial sale. In the past year, the volunteer outfit has rescued about 10 to 15 dogs, mostly less than a year old, who have been ill-treated at puppy farms.

“These young puppies often have rotten teeth, major skin problems but are very, very sweet because all they crave for is love and attention because no one has ever cared about them,” said Foo.

Big puppy farms usually have about 400-500 dogs while smaller ones have about 100-200. There are also home breeders who breed dogs at home and often sell the puppies online.

“When you take [the puppy] home, within the next few weeks or months, they develop pneumonia, kennel cough, skin problems and that’s when a whole lifetime of problems start,” said Foo.

“Because their parents are like that and live in terrible conditions, how much healthier do you think the puppy is?” she added.

When the “parent” dogs no longer have commercial value, breeders will either throw them away, put them down or abandon them.

“Having made tens of thousands of dollars for you, the least you could do is to find them a home,” said Foo.

“What if we never found them? They’ll just die a slow death in these puppy mills,” she added.

TIMELINE

April 16 – Unidentified breeder sends Prince to the vet to be put down

April 18 – HOPE took over Prince from another dog owner who has been caring for Prince

April 21 – Warded at hospital at Mount Pleasant Veterinary Centre

April 28 – Discharged from hospital

April 28 – Went to fosterer Karen’s home. Prince walks and runs around now but is still suffering from other illnesses.

This article was first published in Yahoo!