All Hands on Deck!

Volunteers play an important role in the care of our beneficiaries and they do so in a variety of ways. In this article, we pay tribute to the many volunteers who have worked behind the scenes, to make our centres and its surroundings a better place for our beneficiaries.

All Hands on Wall!“This was one of the best volunteer projects for YDC in the past two years as there was shared ownership of the project between the volunteers and our youth” said Ms Alicia Boo, who is a youth worker with The Salvation Army’s Youth Development Centre (YDC). An answered prayer and a “makeover”; that’s what the centre will call this project, which they have embarked on with a group of Singapore Management University (SMU) students. The centre was in need of a fresh coat of paint and it was timely that the student volunteers came knocking on the doors, expressing interest in helping to turn the Centre into a more vibrant-looking place. Over the span of the next few weeks, the student volunteers worked hand-in-hand with the youth from the centre to, first, raise funds by selling “potong” ice-cream to friends in their neighborhood and then proceeded to get their hands dirty as the centre metamorphosed into a vibrant and colourful place; a place which the youth would be proud to call their own. Nadia, a 13-year-old youth from the centre described her experience, “It’s great! ‘Cos we get to do this with our friends together! We also get to play with colours.” .

All Hands on Deck!30 November 2006 was a memorable day for The Salvation Army’s Peacehaven Nursing Home as it hosted its largest volunteer event to date. Close to 320 volunteers from the Republic of Singapore Navy’s Institute of Maritime Operations and Systems departed from their daily training routine to make a difference and blessed the residents of the Home. This ‘operation’ saw close to 80 volunteers accompanying 56 residents on a visit to the Singapore Zoo, while the remaining team of volunteers stayed back in the Home to help spring clean each Resident Living Area (RLA) with a little Christmas cheer. It was an “all-hands-on-deck” affair.

Upon finishing their tasks, some even went beyond their call of duty and helped fixed faulty equipment or assisted the nurses with various tasks. Some also took the opportunity to interact with the residents and participated in activities and games with them.

Getting things back in tip-top condition

Article originally published on the SA-V (Salvation Army Volunteer) Bulletin
on 26 February 2007 © All Rights Reserved