Volunteers from Road Show at NEX Shopping Mall:
“This experience has shown me that some Singaporeans, despite being said to be selfish, still have hearts of compassion that are willing to help. Looking at a lady who donated 50 dollars touched my heart and made me believe that there's hope for a better tomorrow, not only for the elderly, but also for the needy in the world so as long as we keep on fighting for what we believe in.”
- Efrata Puji Harsono
“The most valuable lesson learnt to me is that sincerity is the thing that matters the most when it comes to helping the less fortunate. Through helping out, I realised that most young people like me tend to undervalue the pocket money given by our parents to us, some of us may take the money for granted or just spurge on items that we desired. The thought of donating some portion of the money away may probably be the last thing on our minds. As I watched the YFC group members counting the earnings for the day, I see the importance of how every single cent plays a significant role in attaining the final earnings. From this, I really understand how fortunate the young people are today and that every cent that we contribute can really cause a great difference on the lives of the less fortunate. I strongly believe that young people should involve themselves in more community work if any opportunity arises. If there is a chance, I would still choose to take part in helping out as a volunteer again and encourage my friends to do so too as one can achieve a sense of fulfillment as he sees that he himself can also do his part in giving back to the society.”
- Ng Cai Ling
“What impacted me the most was the effort that everyone contributed - the CWA core team (Vincent, Gina, Nguyet Anh, Sheena) organising and running the event, student volunteers enthusiastically promoting the cause to the public, the CWA staff who ensured the smooth execution of the roadshow. I was particularly impressed with Mr Chiang, an elderly man cared for by CWA, who was willing to spend his time helping out at the booth, making key chains with thin fishing line and tiny beads that required high dexterity.”
- Jaren Lim
“The event is truly exciting and memorable. I had a chance to show my compassion to help old people by selling things for charity. I had fun as well. I was taught how to make balloon sculptures and badges. I had chance to interact with people from young to old and some are even willing to donate large sum of money for our fund. The event also provided me with opportunity to interact with students and teachers from different classes in my school. In overall, it was a fruitful time for me and i was thrilled that the event was a big success.”
- Le Anh Tuan
Team's Reflection
Being a participant of Youth For Causes 2011 was really an enriching experience. Given another chance, I would like to take part in this meaningful cause again. Through these tough 15 weeks, I have managed to learn a lot about myself and also about others. YFC has provided me with the chance to gain experience in social entrepreneurship and that has certainly boost my confidence level when facing the public. Being in a group of 4, I have learnt many about my teammates.
For example, Gina is a meticulous person, Anh is a hardworking individual and Sheena is a dedicated team leader. Communicating with my fellow teammates is really an ease and enjoyable as each of us have different ideas but in the end, we still managed to accept each other’s opinion.
YFC has changed my perception about the elderly in Caregiving Welfare Association (CWA). Throughout this journey, I have learnt a lot about how the elderly in Singapore is being neglected and not taken care of. Although there are associations such as CWA to help them, they still lack the funds and may also need more support in order to carry out their operations. For example, building a mini healthcare centre in CWA is a priority as having outsourcing medical treatments to outside organizations require a lot of money. As for me, I think I can help them by helping them to raise funds, but in the end, I think the most key idea is to direct volunteer. This includes volunteering at CWA to mingle with the elderly and to communicate with them.
Being through this long and tough journey, I actually found it very enjoyable as we can express our opinion freely besides building up on our entrepreneurship skills. I also learnt to communicate better with other people besides being more confident. In the future, I will certainly recommend YFC to my fellow juniors, and also the whole school so that more people will know about this cause. I will also try to work on other projects by collaborating with other VWOs as I would like to try on something new. The next thing I would want to do is probably holding a charity marathon or a concert.
-Teh Wen Shun
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The 15-week YFC journey is an unforgettable experience in my life.
The most important lesson is to manage my time efficiently to cope well with my academics and to complete YFC tasks. I realize that all of us have limited amount of time and prioritization of work is very significant in order to achieve the best possible outcome. There were times when our street sales clashed with a critical examination period. I had to pay more attention during lessons and maximize the time in class to digest knowledge so that I would have time for our YFC project. I learnt to treasure my time and make every minute meaningful. As a result, our project ended well and my academic results were satisfying.
The next lesson learnt is to work effectively as a team. Each project involves a lot of tasks which cannot be handled by an individual but should be completed by all members of a team. It is necessary to have an efficient division of work among members according to their strength and weaknesses so as to maximize their potential and attain the best result for our team. Throughout the process, I have discovered that I am good at interacting with people in selling items but often neglect small details. Thus, I was responsible for street sales and my teammate was in charge of accounting.
The YFC project has equipped me with necessary skills such as time management and teamwork which help me prepare thoroughly to survive and thrive in this increasingly competitive world. I will try my best to utilize these skills effectively to attain higher achievements in the future. Moreover, I will maximize my strength and work on my weaknesses such as trying to be more meticulous.
Thanks to our project, I am more aware of problems faced by the elderly and their caregivers. This is a serious issue in Singapore because she is experiencing fast rate of ageing population. Therefore, organizations such as CWA are becoming more important to our society. Besides, I have learnt that many senior citizens need our physical and emotional support while many of us see them as a burden to society. Youths should learn more about eldercare to help their ageing relatives.
After the closure of YFC, our group will continue to support CWA. We plan to execute more fund-raising events so as to provide state-of-the-art equipment which aids eldercare. We also intend to carry out an interactive workshop in various secondary schools, junior colleges and polytechnics to raise awareness about challenges encountered by the elderly and the role of caregivers in our society nowadays.
-Nguyen Nguyet Anh
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Through Youth For Causes (YFC), I had a real taste of what it is like to organize a fund-raising event from scratch. There are so many behind-the-scene matters that one would not really get to know unless it is a hands-on experience. Although I did not have a strong interest towards entrepreneurship, but I wanted to challenge myself to do something that I have never attempted before. This allows me to grow in areas that I have never been able to tap on, to gain knowledge of some of the strengths that I never knew that I could use to my advantage and some of the weaknesses that I never knew I could work on.
During the project, I was placed in-charge of the rental of event location which is an atrium in a shopping mall and volunteer management.
Regarding the rental of event location, I held a very important role of selecting a location for the roadshow that is easily-accessible by the public. With the low budget we have, rental have to incur as low as a cost as possible. I found this to be quite a tough job after sending several emails to almost all of the shopping malls in Singapore with atriums as only two shopping malls replied - Anchorpoint and Nex shopping mall. Luckily after a few discussions and negotiations with Nex shopping mall, we managed to obtain a three day rental from 26th to 28th August of the Event Plaza free-of-charge from the Nex management board.
This was after a previous attempt to rent the Event Plaza from 5th to 7th August but was rejected last minute which caught us aback for a while. This taught me to always be prepared for last minute changes and to adapt quickly to new adjustments as no time can be wasted in panicking over the changes. This was further brought out by sudden changes in some volunteers who could not make it to the roadshow last minute. Many of the times, my team planned for the event to occur in a certain manner. However, I had to accept that things may not go smoothly in reality so I often had to rebut my friend’s suggestions to ensure that the best ideas are picked for the event to occur smoothly. Criticism is not entirely bad; it should actually be encouraged since the formation of a team is for the very purpose for team members to question each other’s suggestion to modify current ideas to make way for even better ones.
Through this project, I also managed to learn of my strength to be able to directly walk up to members of the public and publicizing to them verbally regarding our roadshow event. This require a lot of courage and persuasion skills which made me especially satisfied whenever a passer-by is willing to take a look at our booth after I had approached him/her. However, I have to admit that one of my weaknesses is the ability to stay interested in a particular job for a long period of time. I realized that in order to overcome this, I should not push myself to stay interest but instead to handle different jobs from time to time. This is one of the most enriching learning point I have obtained through YFC as I am able to apply things that I have learnt about myself to my daily life, school work and also the future.
Although preparations are long and tough, but it is worthwhile when I get to see the fruit of my team’s efforts paying off. To be able to educate the public on the much-needed support the elderly require from the society had warmed my heart as many more are aware of the needs and are able to make decisions that can benefit these elderly in need. Many a time, people say that the elderly are in need, but often, we don’t realize how large that need is and that every support counts.
Lastly, I had the privilege of working with team mates who are largely responsible and hard-working. This makes the entire exhausting yet satisfying experience even more enriching; the friendships forged will go a long way because we have a common journey. We once had a common goal, and although that goal is reached, I can affirm that each one of us have more knowledge of how to contribute to this society of many needs. Through this experience of helping out this particular sector of the society, I am curious on how I can contribute to the rest. Perhaps the animal society, or the youths or the young. No matter what sector I choose to challenge myself to contribute to next, I owe YFC this opportunity to be able to give back to the society. I hope that many more would be enriched through YFC just like how I did.
-Gina Hiu Feng Ping
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Through this enriching experience, I learn that I need to stay committed to it so as to ensure the success of the project. I learnt that I am capable of doing things as long as I make an effort to try. It also taught me that I have to work well under stressful situation and learn to deal with it appropriately. Certain strengths that I have discovered about myself are that I can work well under stress and I know how to manage them well. For example, I do not crack down easily. Instead, I am able to look for alternatives to solve our sticky situation.
Other than that, I feel that I was able to communicate skillfully with people. For example, I sent emails to many different kindergartens in Singapore to ask for their help with our flower petals project. I was able to exchange emails with the kindergarten principals to communicate our ideas with them easily. From this experience, I realized that being a skilled communicator is really important and learn a lot from the different knowledgeable principals. At the same time, I also discovered certain weakness about me. I find it hard to juggle between academic work and the YFC project. The YFC project and my academic both required a large amount of commitment. Often I will find myself neglecting one for another. Thus, I realized that I might need better time management skills so that I am able to achieve both of my commitment at the same time.
Our beneficiary in-charge, Ms. Gladys, is an inspiration to me. She helped us greatly in the course of our project. I find it very easy to talk to her about the problems that we encounter along the way as she is also playing the supporting figure, giving us a listening ear and offering many ideas that will help us greatly. Every meeting with her enriched me as a person. I also learn that we should always give without asking for any return.
I feel that through this YFC experience, I will learn how to be a better team player and a better person. I will be more matured in my thinking and understanding towards my peers. At the same time, I will also constantly reflect upon myself so that I can look into my areas for improvement. This YFC experience taught me a lot of thing. However if I were to name only one, it would be to place others before myself. I finally find the joy in helping others and in putting myself into others’ shoe. I understand what a joyful thing it is to serve. By serving, I also gain a lot from it. I enjoyed the fruit of helping others. I enjoyed the success of our project. This also made me realized that not everything is about me, myself and I. It is when I bring joy to others, I bring joy to myself. This kind of joy is not that derived from materialistic satisfaction, but of something that comes deep within the heart.
The community that I am serving is the elderly. I understand how the elderly need so much more support than anyone of us. They are actually the most vulnerable group of people. Eventually, all of us will age and this is a phase that everyone will go through. However, it is up to the society to help create an environment that allow for them to age gracefully. I also learnt that it is every small thing that we do that will help the community. It is as simple as going down to CWA and have a small chat with the elderly there to show them that someone care for them.
-Sheena Tan
Team CWA 2011:)
