NTUC’s youth wing Young NTUC and the North East Community Development Council (NECDC) have restarted the Project Refresh initiative on 12 December 2020 to reach out to and spruce up the homes of low-income households and seniors.
Project refresh had taken a hiatus this year due to home visit restrictions in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The latest run saw about 120 individuals volunteer to clean the homes of 25 identified beneficiaries living in one or two-room units at Punggol Shore and Paya Lebar-Kovan.
The initiative started in 2016 to encourage active volunteerism in the community. Project Refresh has clocked over 27,000 man-hours with more than 3,500 volunteers since it started.
The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened the importance of personal and homecare hygiene, especially among vulnerable groups who lack the resources to care for themselves and maintain the sanitisation of their homes, shared NTUC and NECDC in a joint release.
NTUC Assistant Secretary-General Desmond Choo said: “In pre-COVID times, the Young NTUC – North East CDC Project Refresh would run for about four times a year. Unfortunately, we had to halt the programme for some time during the peak of COVID-19.
“With home sanitisation becoming even more necessary as our residents spend more time at home amid the pandemic, we are glad to be able to start Project Refresh again, especially during this festive season, so the beneficiaries can enjoy a cleaner and more comfortable living environment.”
Mr Choo is also the North East District Mayor and Young NTUC Advisor.
To safely restart the initiative, the organisers implemented safe management measures for the well-being of the volunteers and residents.
The cleaning works were also scaled down without compromising the thorough checks needed on the sanitary level of the beneficiaries’ homes.
In addition to cleaning duties, the volunteers of Project Refresh also befriended the residents they visited, especially the seniors. This is especially important to alleviate the isolation among seniors, given the limited activities at Senior Activity Centres as part of safe management measures, according to the organisers.
Young NTUC Union Leader Kris Chen shared: “This is my third year volunteering for Project Refresh. I find it especially meaningful, seeing how the residents’ spirits were lifted with our visits as many of them live in isolation. Cleaning does not only help with hygiene and safety of the environment; having a more liveable space has a way of bringing good cheer to the residents too.”
