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The 13th edition of Project Refresh is set to further expand its programme to help improve the living environments of beneficiaries living at five Social Service Agencies (SSAs).
Many SSAs that North East CDC had met, shared their struggles. Funding garnered to operate the homes often go into improving the care facilities rather than sprucing up the living spaces. Many volunteers also do not know which homes need help and how best they can use their skill sets to help them.
Based on data collected from the five SSAs supported in today’s Project Refresh, it was found that there are less than 100 regular volunteers in the senior and children’s homes that housed close to 1,000 residents. The homes, on the other hand, pointed out the need for more regular and skilled volunteers to help carry out activities to engage residents, skilled work such as gardening, cleaning and general maintenance, and other services so that caregivers may focus on attending to the daily needs of their residents.
Project Refresh Broadens Support to Senior and Children’s Homes
To bridge this gap and to broaden its support to SSAs, North East CDC extended the Young NTUC-North East CDC Project Refresh programme to enhance the living spaces of the senior and children’s homes and befriend residents from these homes.
Jointly organized by North East CDC and Young NTUC, 200 volunteers from the grassroots, Labour Movement network – unions, U FSE (freelancers and self-employed) and U SME, schools and corporates visited five homes located in the North East on 11 May. They are All Saints Home (Tampines), Bright Hill Evergreen Home, The Singapore Cheshire Home, Ling Kwang Home for Senior Citizens, and PERTAPIS Children’s Home.
Volunteers performed a variety of duties which includes general cleaning, painting of mural walls and replacement of old planters. The Building Construction And Timber Industries Employees’ Union also brought in 10 skilled volunteers from three of its unionised companies from Prince’s Landscape, BNL Group of Companies, Greenserve & Landscape to help with the planting work. Activities such as art and craft, bingo and ball games were also prepared by the volunteers to brighten up the weekend for the seniors and children.
Corporate partners have also been on the rise as many make the move to actively give back to the community through Project Refresh. Aside from supplying volunteers to Project Refresh, North East CDC’s corporate partners from Applied Materials South East Pte Ltd, Benel, BUILDERSmart Pte Ltd, Far East Flora Pte Ltd, Forty Two Pte Ltd, Furniture Club, Singapore Furniture Industries Council and Thiam Peng will also be sponsoring tables and pillows to replace those torn and worn; as well as landscaping services, to name a few.
Mayor of the North East District and Assistant Secretary-General of NTUC, Mr Desmond Choo shared, “North East CDC and Young NTUC commit ourselves to understand community needs and bridge community gaps. Today’s iteration of Project Refresh seeks to be the catalyst for regular volunteerism at senior and children’s homes that may require such additional support. We hope that by leveraging the strength of the Labour Movement and North East CDC networks, we can mobilise Singaporeans from different walks of life to contribute to a good cause. We hope they can be better aware of the needs in our community and each lend a helping hand to make Singapore a more caring and inclusive society.”
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