Category Archive

Dear Friends, Kathirvel, Leena and Nicholas folded 120 origami flowers and presented them to primary school children in their neighbourhood. It was a children’s day gift and for those who were taking their primary school leaving examination (PSLE), words of encouragement were written on the flower. These 14-year olds told us that when they were taking their PSLE, they had received a bar of chocolate with words of encouragement from volunteers who visited them, and they wanted to do the same for others. Hearing how a small act of kindness is being replicated was heart-warming and what touched us was …

Dear Friends, It is said that relationships aren’t great because they are free from problems, but they are great because people care enough about each other to make them work. It saddens us whenever our members get into a disagreement and even more so when it is over food, household necessities and inexpensive gifts. During a recent event, 2 care-givers with children-in-tow created a scene when one accused the other of taking her child’s gift of a school bag. They had to be separated and to prove her innocence, the accused purchased a similar bag and got a neighbour to …

Dear Friends, Firstly, thank you for supporting Fairground. Your presence, donations and warm wishes lifted our spirits as we hosted more than 1800 people. We could not have done it without all our volunteers who are mentioned here. Nonetheless, we would like to give special thanks to Mr Baey Yam Keng, Parliamentary Secretary for Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) for being such an engaging and gracious Guest of Honour, Bank of America Merrill Lynch for being our main sponsor for the 4th year in a row and SCAPE for welcoming the fair on their grounds. This week, together …

Dear Friends, It always amazes us when neighbours decide that their neighbourhood belongs to them and with a little effort and some enthusiasm, make the place a lot more liveable for all who live there. 4 mothers in the Ghim Moh neighbourhood have come together as “Genuine Hearts” to reach out to their neighbours especially older persons and those with disabilities. They would like to ensure that these vulnerable neighbours are linked to some support that improves their quality of life. They also coordinate the redistribution of donated food and other gifts, and in the past month, they have roped …

Dear Friends, Together with peers from 3 other agencies, our colleagues participated in the first module of a Family Group Conferencing Co-ordinator Certification Programme. Over the next 12 months, they will be organising family group conferences (FGC) with guidance from the Potsdam University of Applied Sciences Germany as well as Daybreak Family Group Conferences and Eigen Kracht Centrale, the key conference coordinating agencies in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands respectively. The underlying idea of a FGC is very simple. If we have a problem in our life that cannot be easily resolved, we ask our social network to think …

Dear Friends A mother told the court that she no longer wanted to file a Beyond Parental Control immediately after her daughter received a 2-year care and supervision order in an institution. At that point, she realised that utilising the court to win back her child had backfired as she would instead be losing her for 2 years. She endured a harsh reprimand for wasting State resources but although she was red-faced and shaken, she found much comfort in being able to bring her 15-year-old daughter home. On several occasions since June, we have been impressing on this mother not …

Dear Friends This week I was asked about how we have kept our fund-raising efficiency ratio relatively low. Last year it was 4.1 % and the previous 2 years were 2.1% and 2.4% respectively. This is a benchmark established by the Charity Council which is the total fund-raising expenses to the total gross receipts from fund-raising and sponsorships during a financial year. All charities are expected to keep their fund-raising efficiency ratio below 30%. I did not quite have the words then except to say that being a charity we are constantly mindful of our expenses which was just one …

Dear Friends After 6 weeks of training, 35 children and youth together with 5 volunteer buddy skaters collectively bladed more than 350km around Bishan Park last Sunday morning. This is the second year we are a part of Charity Bike ‘n’ Blade, a volunteer driven fund-raising effort where funds collected are equally shared with the Salvation Army’s Peacehaven Nursing Home. In 3 weeks, some 24 cyclists will be covering more than 300km in Malaysia and our young people’s effort was a gesture of solidarity. For the past 7 weeks, some parents accompanied their children for training and they were delighted …

Dear Friends “One More Light” is our latest forum theatre production which played at Leng Kee and the Lavendar neighbourhoods the last 2 weekends. The title is taken from a song with the same name sung by Linkin Park which has a line asking, “Who cares when one more light goes out in the sky with a million stars?” The youth in our Community Theatre Programme insists that they do care about their friends who are troubled, and their show invites the audience to consider the pain of loss, the helplessness of parents seeking to protect their children from harsh …