SG Volunteer

Voluntary welfare organisations (VWOs) said they welcome the setting up of a volunteer youth corps.

However, they noted that sustained funding and support for those who provide the volunteer training will be critical.

VWOs will be roped in to build up the volunteer youth corps’ strong training component.

Details are pending, but the National Youth Council is looking into funding for these training providers.

Iris Lin, senior social worker at Fei Yue Community Services, said: “A lot of times we are running on shortage of manpower, so with that kind of funding it will really justify a lot of the time and hours put into for instance, training volunteers, even for meetings, discussions with them. All these take time.”

The workflow for VWOs is a concern as well, but Fei Yue Community Services said they want to be sure they can give volunteers a meaningful experience.

One way is to encourage youths to come up with their own projects.

Iskandar Idris, member of the management committee at Malay Youth Literary Association, said: “Youth can contribute first of all, in providing fresh ideas that we may have overlooked, and second, youth may also help to identify certain factions of society that are maybe currently not captured in existing programmes that VWOs are offering.”

Most organisations welcome the boost in volunteer numbers the youth corps will bring about. The target is 6,000 every year.

But for organisations that offer specialised social services, there is a limit to what young, inexperienced volunteers can do.

For example, the Singapore Anti-Narcotics Association (SANA) focuses on rehabilitating ex-drug offenders and this requires professional counselling skills.

However, SANA has education and awareness programmes that are in need of youth volunteers.

Steven Tham, assistant director at SANA, said: “In a society like Singapore, very affluent, we really need to help them (young people) to realise there are needs in Singapore. Many of our youths do not see these needs.”

This is one perception that welfare organisations said they hope the volunteer youth corps will change.

Source: CNA

The volunteer youth corps, which will start with a few hundred members in early 2014, will aim to offer a volunteering experience that is meaningful and fulfilling so that young Singaporeans will continue serving after their school years.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced the programme at the National Day Rally on August 18.

Jonathan Low, a graduate student, is part of a group of computing students from the National University of Singapore who offer IT solutions to non-profit organisations.

Their project not only helps others, but also allows them to apply the skills they learnt in the classroom to real life.

Community projects like this are what the volunteer youth corps wants to generate — both overseas and in Singapore.

Mr Low said: “Going overseas will allow students to have good exposure. But I think that this is where home is, so we should be volunteering here locally to make this place better.”

But going on the streets with a can and asking for donations is not everyone’s cup of tea, said Mr Low. Many tend to associate that, and that alone, with volunteering, he added.

He said: “I guess the idea is that with the youth corps we can see more meaningful activities where the students actively engage the beneficiaries, and they can actually see their efforts (paying off).”

The programme will build on and eventually incorporate the existing Youth Expedition Project (YEP), which sends about 4,000 young Singaporeans on overseas community service expeditions a year.

The idea is to have both a local and overseas component in the volunteering experience, said Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong.

Mr Wong said: “We hope we can harness the energies of our young people and expand the opportunities for them to serve, and at the same time make that service a vehicle to serve community needs as well as our national goals.”

The programme targets students in polytechnics, ITEs and universities, but also includes young working adults up to age 35.

Volunteers will be equipped and well-trained before they start on their local and overseas projects, said the National Youth Council (NYC), which will be administering the programme.

When projects are completed, senior volunteers may also get a “pay-it-forward” grant that can be used to help more junior members fund their projects.

For students who wish to take a gap semester and volunteer full time, the youth corps will also offer financial support in the form of a stipend.

Volunteerism in Singapore has increased overall, but the NYC said there is a significant drop at the point where young Singaporeans leave school and start working. More are also doing ad-hoc volunteering, rather than committing to longer-term service.

Mr Wong said: “It’s not because there’s a shortage of opportunities. There are many opportunities to volunteer, but we think that existing opportunities are somewhat ad-hoc.

“We get feedback from young people that sometimes they want to do something for the community but they’re not quite sure how to go about doing it.”

Youth and community organisations will be roped in to train, mentor and work on projects with the volunteers.

Details are being worked out, but the target is to support 6,000 volunteers every year.

Mr Wong and the NYC will be holding dialogues in the coming months with youths and community partners to develop the programme.

Source: CNA

The Community Chest – a glamorous outfit which targets just the well-heeled to raise huge sums of money?

If that is the impression some people have of Singapore’s biggest fund-raiser in the social service sector, then it is time to change it, said ComChest’s new chairman Phillip Tan.

“I want to change this perception and get everyone from children to blue-collar workers involved and create a culture of caring and sharing beyond monetary donations,” said Mr Tan, who succeeded hotelier Jennie Chua who held the position for 14 years.

This strong belief that charity goes beyond money has long followed the 64-year-old semi-retiree, having learnt the importance of kindness from a young age, often from his father.

In an interview last Thursday, on the first day in his new job, he recalled how, in 1969, during Malaysia’s May 13 race riots, his father opened their home to his classmate’s family of eight.

“It was dangerous where they lived so my friend asked if they could stay with us. My dad, without as much as a second thought, said yes immediately,” said Mr Tan, who grew up in Kuala Lumpur.

“My friend and his family went on to stay with us for two months.”

And this is the type of neighbourliness he wants to spread through Singapore’s heartlands.

“It could even be volunteering to clean an elderly neighbour’s house once a month. In the long term, a friendship could develop, and help could be rendered to the elderly in his or her time of need.”

Mr Tan spoke with passion about his many plans for the fund-raising arm of the National Council of Social Service (NCSS), which last year raised a record $72.3 million for the 83 voluntary welfare groups under its umbrella.

He wants to roll out ComChest Carers, which will connect those who fall through the cracks with the relevant agencies, and provide temporary financial aid in emergencies – such as when a family loses a breadwinner.

He hopes to establish a system where rejected applications for funds are given a second chance.

“We have heard complaints that it is hard to get money from ComChest. We have been very judicial about allocating funds but I think we can afford to use the heart and look closer into cases that need help.”

But his first step is to reach out to children, and that is why he is breathing new life into ComChest’s pink mascot – Sharity Elephant, who first started his mission of sharing and caring in 1984. ”

Children are kings and queens of their families and they can influence and mobilise their parents into giving back as well,” said Mr Tan, who has three sons aged, 26, 36 and 40.

Already, a small publicity department has been set up at ComChest to reach out to schoolchildren and produce a Sharity Elephant magazine.

It was in 1975 when Mr Tan, who received his citizenship in the 1990s, moved to Singapore with his wife Lily and two bags. He joined a public accounting firm and was later made partner.

To make new friends, he joined Apex Club, a social service club, which kick-started his volunteer work with a food distribution programme for the needy and elderly in Redhill.

But for the most part, Mr Tan, who retired as a partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2006, has had a relatively quiet profile, serving behind the scenes at NCSS since 1983, and as chairman of the fund management committee at Yellow Ribbon, which helps ex-offenders and their families.

Even when ComChest was looking for a successor to Ms Chua, he was initially part of the recruitment committee.

But it decided that Mr Tan, who is also vice-president of the NCSS board, was the best candidate for the job.

Said Mr Tan: “I’ve a strong desire to give back to Singapore, which has treated us well. I started with nothing but now I’ve much more than the two bags I carried over here.”

Source: The Straits Times

Family members who care for dementia patients will get a helping hand under a new initiative that clinched first prize in a fund-raising contest on Friday.

The idea by the Alzheimer’s Disease Association won over judges in the competition, which involved non-profit organisations pitching ideas for social projects.

Friday’s event was part of the three-day Sands For Singapore Festival, a charity drive that aims to raise money for six beneficiaries including the Community Chest.

The association won $111,000 in prize money after its pitch received 10 out of 20 votes from corporate sponsors.

This money will be used to set up a day care centre in Tiong Bahru where family members who look after dementia sufferers can spend time with their loved ones instead of simply dropping them off.

Staff from the association will give them training on how to care for the patients. And carers can take turns to help each other, providing a much-needed breather.

“This programme will allow caregivers to come together to help and support each other,” said the association’s chief executive Jason Foo. “It is very stressful to be a caregiver to a dementia patient and they can get frustrated or depressed.”

Four other contenders made the final of Friday’s competition at Marina Bay Sands: namely, The Singapore Association for the Deaf, Bishan Home for the Intellectually Disabled, En Community Services Society and youth hangout *Scape.

Each team had three minutes to pitch ideas to a panel of 20 judges made up of corporate sponsors including Credit Suisse and engineering services firm Cyclect Holdings.

Judging criteria included how innovative the ideas were and whether they promoted giving and volunteering in the corporate sector.

The total of $251,000 in prize money was divided, depending on the votes each proposal received.

Cyclect Holdings director Marcus Tan said the Alzheimer’s Disease Association had “gone one step further to get family members to be a part, and that helps to strengthen the bond between the caregiver and the patient”.

Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong, who was the guest of honour at the Pitch To Win event, stressed the importance of corporate social responsibility.

“(Volunteerism) comes down when our youth graduate and enter the workplace,” he said.

“This is why it is important for corporate leaders to help shape a positive culture at work.”

Source: The Straits Times