Nanyang Technological University

I have been actively volunteering for about 7 years. I am passionate about causes like medical, environment, low income families and elderly. I have been regularly volunteering to serve the elderly.

Singapore has been aging faster than a decade ago. Statistically the pool of citizens aged 65 and older grew to 14.4 per cent in 2018. This is much higher than 9.4 percent in 2007. I believe that as Singaporeans are greying at a faster pace, it is important for the younger Singaporeans to take care of the older Singaporeans. When we were young, the pioneer generation worked hard and contributed to the economic growth and prosperity of Singapore and I am enjoying the fruits of their hard work. It is only right to give back our time and take care of the elderly. This is my way of giving back to our community.

At Moral Home of The Aged Sick, there are about 70 residents and limited number of physiotherapists. On Saturday's my friends and I visit the home from 1000 to 1230 to conduct physiotherapy games with the elderly. We have been serving at this home for the past 3 years. The elderly looks forward to Saturdays, as they get to interact with young people. These elderly stays inside their moral home most of their time. They do not get to go out of the home. My friends and I bring these elderlies to nearby hawker centre, Changi airport tour, gardens by the bay etc. These activities bring about smiles and happiness to the elderly.

I believe that I should be a change agent and rally more young people to volunteer. I should amplify the impact to the community by empowering younger people. I was chosen as the volunteer leader of Youth Corps Singapore where I get to initiate various local and international social projects. Subsequently, I was chosen to be one of the advisor for Youth Corps Singapore. This allows me to shape the volunteering landscape in Singapore.

I was brought up in a lower income family in Singapore. My parents alternated between multiple jobs to provide me and my siblings with good education. Along the way my community assisted me through bursaries, subsidised tuition etc. I feel that it is only right for me to give back to my community.

I believe I demonstrated social responsibility during my time as a student of Nanyang Business School. I have been serving our community by organizing various social projects that positively impacted our community. My contributions have been recognized by local and international bodies like Forbes. I have represented Singapore in various national and international platforms and competitions. Some of my contribution includes:

1. Every Saturday, I volunteer at The Moral Home for the Aged Sick at Bedok. In collaboration with, Youth Corps Singapore, I have been volunteering with my friends where we conducted physiotherapy games to the elderly, brought the elderly on excursion tours. This brought happiness to the elderly who spend majority of their time at the home.

2. Organized free health screening (blood glucose test, blood pressure test etc) for people to understand early health warning signs. I initiated this project by rallying a team of youths and collaborated with Mount Elizabeth Hospital. Member of Parliament Madam Rahayu acknowledged my team’s impact to the community during her opening speech at the event. She also posted on her facebook page.

3. I was chosen to be part of the 16-member advisory committee of Youth Corps Singapore which was launched by Prime Minister Lee to support lifelong youth volunteerism. I am the only student to be chosen as an advisor to this national platform. This committee is chaired by Parliamentary Secretary Mr Amrin Amin. This committee work on Youth Corps strategic direction among other aspects.

4. I was awarded the National Youth Achievement Award by President of Singapore Dr Tony Tan in 2015 for his outstanding contribution to the community.

5. I was chosen to be part of the 15-member NYAA Executive Committee to lead the Gold Award Holders to initiate impactful community projects. This committee is chaired by Finance Minister Mr Heng Swee Keat.

6. I co-founded a financial technology company that creates alternative credit scoring to people without a credit score. This is the first of its kind in Singapore. The company uses non-traditional predictive data point to create a data driven credit worthiness score helping to positively impact the financial lives of people. The company has been serving Singaporeans and is working on impacting the 438 million people living across Southeast Asia who do not have a credit score.

7. I was the only NBS undergraduate to be named by Forbes in its inaugural ‘30 under 30 list’ under the finance and venture capital category.

8. Rockerfeller Foundation’s president Dr Rajiv Shah made his first ever visit to Asia and he invited me to discuss how we can impact community at large, beyond borders. The video has garnered close to 100,000 views on my facebook page. The video is available online - https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/people/mohamed-abbas/

9. My contributions have been recognized and featured in various local and international media. Some of the media features include Channel News Asia, Business Times, Straits Times, Berita Harian, Tamil Murasu, Tech in Asia, Vasantham, e27, Tabla, The Edge etc (Links on Linkedin)

10. Minister mentioned my contribution to Singapore in his Keynote address. One such example will be Minister Janil Puthucheary who is the Minister of State for Communications and Information and Education. At The Business Times' Leaders Forum he mentioned the following:

"Some of you may be familiar with Mr Mohamed Abbas. He co-founded Onelyst, an online marketplace that helps lower-income users compare loan rates using deep data analytics and non-traditional data points to tabulate users' credit scores and match them to licensed moneylenders in Singapore.

Abbas did not stop there. Adapting the same technologies to a new business field he launched a new product-Rely, an online platform for people who do not meet credit cards’ minimum income requirements, enabling them to buy electronic goods via instalment plans. He has a vision to be a disruptor, to access underserved communities and bring them into the market, to challenge existing business norms and models of delivery. He’s young, he's energetic, he's Singaporean, he's learning from each product and he is your competition, with many big things ahead of him"

11. During my time as a student, my team and I were working on a social enterprise called Gourmet Guru to help the low-income Malay housewives in Singapore to earn supplementary income. I was the Director of the social enterprise. My team’s efforts were recognized and selected as the best social project by Enactus Singapore. Together with his team he went to Mexico to represent Singapore and compete alongside 36 international teams. It was a proud moment for Singapore.

12. My community driven mindset started during my time in Singapore Polytechnic. When I was pursuing his Double Diploma in Singapore Polytechnic, I was the President of Student’s in Free Enterprise (SIFE) Club, where my team and I initiated 19 social projects. His team’s efforts were recognized, and he and his team went to Germany to represent Singapore and showcase student’s social efforts. My team presented their social projects to international audience from 35 over countries and made Singapore proud.

13. 2016 Singapore Delegate: Represented Singapore at the Y20 Summit in China. Y20 is an international conference that brings together young leaders representing the Group of Twenty (G20) and Guest countries. The policy recommendations of the Summit were presented to global policymakers in the form of a communique, with the prospect of shaping global policies.

14. 2015 Youth Leader: Youth Corps Singapore enables youths to embark on community projects. As volunteer Leaders we initiate local and international community projects

15. 2014 National Leader: Represented Singapore at Youth Camp for Asia's Future in Korea. YCAF brought together 195 youths from 23 Asian countries.

16. 2013 Singapore Youth Ambassador: Represented Singapore in 40th Ship for South East Asian Youth Program which brought together 323 youths from ASEAN and Japan. It was an unique opportunity to live together on board the ship Nippon Maru for 51 days, allowing me to establish regional connections.

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Like most who underwent the education system in Singapore, my first experience of volunteering started in primary and secondary school when I was exposed to volunteering with my school. However, my conscious exposure to volunteering with Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs) germinated only after entering tertiary education.

NBS Inflammare

When I entered NBS in 2015, I joined NBS Inflammare camp. I felt it was refreshing that an orientation camp would bring freshmen to volunteering at Sparkletots as part of its programmes and that it was especially meaningful. Therefore, I joined NBS Inflammare as part of its sub-committee and executive committee in 2016 and 2017 respectively.

In 2017, I was 1 of the 2 Events Directors in the Executive Committee of NBS Inflammare. My fellow Events Director and I both agreed that we wanted to raise the awareness of low-income families in Singapore. As such, we identified Food From The Heart (FFTH) as the beneficiary to work with and planned various volunteering activities for them. We first went to FFTH’s warehouse at Tai Seng to volunteer as food packers with our executive committee in a bid to understand their back-end operations. Subsequently, we planned 2 food donation drives to collect food donations for FFTH.

During our trial and actual camps, we went to the neighbourhoods in the vicinity of NTU with our freshmen to collect food for FFTH. With the support of NBS staff and our freshmen’s efforts, NBS Inflammare eventually managed to collect $3,400 worth of food donations for FFTH during the actual camp.

On top of what we managed to donate to FFTH, I felt it was especially rewarding for our juniors to enter NBS with the knowledge of the need to give back to society.

Toastmasters International

I first joined Toastmasters International back in 2010 when I was in polytechnic. Back then, I joined the student Toastmasters Club in Ngee Ann Polytechnic with the aim of improving my communication skills. I eventually realised that there were many volunteers who willingly gave up their time and effort to help us.

Therefore, I volunteered and was appointed as the Area Director in Toastmasters International District 80 (Singapore) in the year 2016. As Area Director, I had the responsibility to support the 4 student clubs which were under my care: NTU, SMU, JCU, NP. Being the Area Director, I realised that student clubs constantly needed support especially in terms of getting external trainers who were willing to conduct workshops for the students’ learning.

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Khaw Jia Xin was a Regular Volunteer and served as the Chairperson of Welfare Services Club, Regular Service Project (Intellectually Disabled) (RSPID) from August 2017 to August 2018. With the opening of a new center starting in August 2017, she is overseeing sessions and events at both Woodlands Garden School and Clementi Training & Development Center. Apart from that, she also spearheaded planning committees made up of members from external organizations for the planning of special events such as Chinese New Year Celebration 2018 and Christmas Celebration 2017 at both centers.

As the Chairperson of RSPID, Jia Xin has carried out her duties with inspiring passion and everlasting mental vigour that is unparalleled among her fellow volunteers. She has been an excellent role model for the juniors while guiding and empowering them in the planning and execution of weekly sessions throughout the year. She has enthusiastically ensured that the objectives of the weekly sessions are met. Her mature thought process has enabled her to provide rational guidance for the juniors during the planning phase. The juniors were thus able to grow as competent volunteers under her guidance. Jia Xin has played a pivotal role in shaping the bright future of the new batch of volunteers.

Even though she was involved in the rigorous planning process of the weekly sessions and outings, she has never faltered and has produced outstanding results that are evident in the improvement of the beneficiaries' training process and the motivation of the volunteers. Throughout her term as the Chairperson, she has persevered through the challenging times while remaining optimistic. She has been able to adapt herself well whenever changes had to be made and has revamped the sessions so that the beneficiaries reap the most out of them.

A highly motivated individual who has exuberantly gone the extra mile to accomplish all objectives, Jia Xin has been instrumental in the execution of Corporate Social Responsibility Projects that were carried out with companies such as Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited and Allianz Group Investors. She has displayed a high level of competency in the management of people and her public relation skills have been excellent during the proceedings of the various events.

During management level meetings, her inputs have been rationally and objectively thought out and delivered with coherence and tact with the target audience in mind. These outstanding qualities have been pivotal in the decision-making process of RSPID throughout the year.

Despite her responsibilities as the Chairperson, she has always taken the time to fulfill her responsibilities of being a volunteer and has made a positive difference in the life of the beneficiary who has been placed under her care. In addition, she has put in extra effort and has challenged herself to handle and understand other beneficiaries.

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Zheng Jie first became exposed to the joy of volunteering during junior college days when he joined LEO club, a CCA that is based upon volunteering for the society. What started off as a CCA for him back then ignited his passion to help others and give back to the society.
Following on from his junior college days, he joined NTU and made it a point to carry on from where he left off. He started self-sourcing for volunteer opportunities and often got friends on board this meaningful journey.

Zheng Jie joined Welfare Services Club(WSC) in NTU as a regular volunteer where he has been mentoring underprivileged children for the past 2 years at a family services centre in Sengkang. In weekly sessions, he assists them in their academic work and also imparts various life skills and values to them in sessions tailored towards character-building. This is a heartening experience for Zheng Jie, especially when he sees the holistic development of the children and how he can make an impact in shaping their future ahead.

Besides, Zheng Jie also finds various avenues to help the community at large. He has been an active volunteer in Young NTUC’s Project Refresh, an initiative aimed at refurbishing and painting the homes of elderly and the handicapped before every major festive season such as Chinese New Year or Hari Raya. Through this project, he plays a role in ensuring that these beneficiaries get a “fresh” environment to live in. In addition, it provides much needed companionship for many of the beneficiaries who live alone.

Other notable efforts Zheng Jie has engaged in includes volunteering for flag days to raise funds for the association of the visually handicapped and visits to elderly homes organised by NTU Caretalyst.

Above it all, Zheng Jie believes volunteering gives him an opportunity to take a step back to empathise and help those who are being left behind amidst the fast-paced society that we are in. He understands that while there are various organisations that initiate projects for social causes, it is important for volunteers to step up and provide the manpower necessary in facilitating the success of those events. At the end of the day, he believes everyone has the ability to impact the less fortunate in one way or another and he hopes to be able to influence friends, or youths in general to volunteer so that they can all be part of this fun and fulfilling journey to help others.

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Liew Kar Hui (Jaclene)

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CareerSocius Pte. Ltd. (Co-founder)
I founded a social business, CareerSocius, with some NBS friends, with the aim of helping marginalized job seekers in Singapore find better employment opportunities through skills upgrading and improving their personal branding. I had my first close-up encounter of inequality in Singapore when I did an internship in an external recruitment firm, where I noticed that the less-educated, those from the minority race, and older workers found it hard to improve their employment prospects. It saddened me that not everybody has the privilege and capacity that others have in pursuing the life and career they want. It sparked off an idea to teach people critical skills and providing them with moral support throughout their daunting job search - and hopefully land them a better career which matches their potential and interest.

Fast-forward to today, CareerSocius has just celebrated our first anniversary! We have impacted >300 Singaporean job seekers and less-privileged students, helping them to feel more confident and prepared in their job search. We do so through providing resume and interview advice, workshops (personal branding, business skills, IT skills), and mentorship. We have pitched to and obtained $10k in funding from NTU’s CoLab4Good, an initiative supporting young people running social businesses.

I was one of the Singaporean delegates at the ASEAN+3 Young Social Entrepreneurs in Action held in Thailand to share about my social cause and learn from young entrepreneurs across Asia. I was also featured on the Nanyang Chronicle for my work in CareerSocius.

SkillsFutureSG
I am an ambassador at SkillsFutureSG, where I volunteer at roadshows helping job seekers to explore alternative career opportunities, as well as promote skills upgrading in order for them to stay relevant in the Singapore job market. In line with my purpose of helping people to maximise their lives, I felt that volunteering at the SkillsFuture Roadshows could allow me to work with citizens on the ground and understand their situation both on a personal and macro level.

Through volunteering at SkillsFutureSG, I encouraged discouraged job seekers to take small steps in pursuing another career. One of the most memorable moments I had was with a homemaker who had not worked for over 10 years. I learnt her fears of working and interviews and tried to allay them as best as I could - she gained enough confidence to attempt three interviews during the roadshow, and I was heartened to be part of her process in finding courage.

NTU Peer Helping Programme
I have been a confidant under the NTU PHP since 2015, where I act as a bridge between the University Wellbeing Centre and NTU students, providing students with emotional support when needed. I joined this programme as I wanted to better understand and help individuals who may be suffering from mental distress. Through PHP, I learnt how to come from a place of compassion and help friends and schoolmates who come to me with their problems.

I was the Marketing Communications Head 16/17, where I led my team in raising awareness for mental health issues in NTU, through rolling out initiatives like the annual Online Stressbuster event and producing event collaterals. Through our campaigns, we hoped to destigmatize mental illness and encourage our peers who are struggling mentally to seek help.

The Mentoring Edge (Mentor)
I am a mentor at The Mentoring Edge, NBS’s mentorship programme. I took on the role of a mentor because I appreciated the help my own seniors gave me when I was a freshman. I felt that I could help my mentees navigate schooling life quicker, and start strategizing how to maximise their time in University so that they have the opportunity to pursue the abundance of opportunities in their 3-4 years here. I’ve mentored two mentees so far, advising them on academics, business specialisation and internships. I am also on the judging panel for The Mentoring Edge case competition.

Hall 8 MAXAR Local CIP (Co-Chairperson)
I led the marketing and logistics team in organizing community service programmes in AWWA, with activities spanning across the children, mentally-disabled and elderly communities. Through MAXAR, I hoped to gain deeper appreciation of the realities of different people and the lives they led. Our activities were conducted to bring joy to our beneficiaries, and hopefully uplift them in our own capacity. I learnt never to underestimate the power of a simple hug, patience, or a warm gesture.

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Lim Mei Yu

Esprit de volontaires! The spirit of volunteerism has infected me affectionately when I came across the concept of service learning during my younger days. I am motivated to be leader who can inspire and make a real difference to people's lives. Devoting my free time to volunteering, I proactively serve others and passionately champion the cause of the underprivileged to the student community.

Prior to entering NTU in 2015, I was a volunteer tutor at Loving Heart Multi-Service Centre (Jurong)’s Free Tuition Programme which serves to provide additional academic help to less-privileged children in the constituency for 1 ½ year before working as an Executive Officer temporarily for 3 months to assist in their events.

NTU Welfare Services Club (WSC) - my second family

I had the privilege to continue my volunteering journey in WSC to gain greater social awareness and serve the needs of the underprivileged.

Since Year 1, I am an active Regular Volunteer for Regular Service Project (Friends of Children) and provide weekly academic and life skills mentoring for primary school students in Ace Stars Programme conducted every Thursday in Jurong Point Management Office and Yuhua Community Centre. Beside committing to weekly volunteering sessions, I was in business management and the games planning committees for semi-annual events organised to impart life skills to our beneficiaries.

Recognising the need to serve at a larger capacity with my prior experience in a VWO, I was empowered to step up as the Honorary General Secretary in WSC 22nd Executive Committee (Exco) to ensure the smooth-running of WSC operations and more importantly, to better serve the different groups of beneficiaries across the various portfolios under WSC to the best of my abilities.

During my term, I liaised with external parties such as Gardens by the Bay and National Arts Council to promote sponsorships and partnerships with WSC and was part of the key Organising Committee for WSC-wide events such as recruitment interviews, Welcome Tea 2016 and Annual General Meeting 2017. Despite taking an administrative role in Exco, I also participated actively as a volunteer and provided support for numerous portfolios’ key volunteering events such as Golden Generation, Social Impact Week and Ignite Change Freshmen Orientation programme which serve different social causes.

When I heard my Exco member from Regular Service Project (Deaf Community) that her portfolio faced severe issues in recruiting note-takers for the deaf students, I saw this as good opportunity to understand the deaf community better and became a student transcriber. I took an elective, HP8001 Mind Over Stress, with one of the deaf students who needed transcribing services and through this, was more aware about the needs of the deaf community and the learning difficulties they face here.

Serving through Nanyang Business School Initiatives

In NBS Service Learning Committee, my role as Service Learning Director was to plan and execute the inaugural NBS Shoot and Inspire photo essay competition which aimed to promote and spark a call for action for service learning among the NBS student community. I also provided support and gave ideas to my fellow committee members when we organized an NBS service learning festival to showcase current service learning projects carried out by students, as well as to create a platform for voluntary welfare organisations to reach out to the student community in NBS.

As a small group leader in Project MYCamp 2015, a 3-day camp which benefit children from low-income families, I brought the children for learning journeys, a visit at Old Folk’s Home to instill community responsibility among them, and help in facilitating the activities while leading my fellow volunteers in the team.

I believe it was equally important for me to gain insights on how best to champion for the social service sector and to attract millennials like myself in NBS to consider entering social service sector as a career as a Human Resource Consulting student. This was why I am currently a Research Assistant who helps to oversee and administer surveys for a consulting project which aims to improve the recruitment and retention in the local social service sector.

Being part of the WSC community for my entire 3 years here was indeed a joy and a blessing I cherish. I truly believe that University life is more than just chasing the paper qualification and securing a job. Hence, even when I was interning part-time and studying simultaneously during my final year in University, I remain as an active WSC volunteer. Furthermore, when I was an intern in Caterpillar, I chose to volunteer at Habitat for Humanity which was the company’s partnering organisation, on top of my WSC commitments.

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Lim Xin Yi

Grassroots
Back in secondary school, I had the opportunity to volunteer at Meet-the-People session with Ministers Gan Kim Yong and Grace Fu, where I learnt to pen appeal letters to various authorities. Such volunteering experiences helped to build some perspectives and I enjoy being able to be of help. This has since sparked my volunteering journey. In my junior college years, I headed my school’s Youth Leadership Experiential Programme, a grassroots club, as the Publicity-Peer tutoring in-charge. On top of weekly peer-tutoring at Kent Ridge Secondary School, I have been involved in numerous grassroots and community events, such as helping out the community carnivals, baby shows and Meet-the-People sessions with Minister S. Iswaran. One of the notable events that I was involved in planning and execution is Communibake. which continues to hold the Guinness World Record of the Largest Cupcake Mosaic and received international media coverage. I also concurrently headed the Students’ National Education Committee, where I planned and executed celebrations for National Education events for my school.

SEAGames
When the SEAGames came to Singapore, I jumped at the opportunity. I signed up as an Accreditation Officer, where my role is to authenticate passes for staff and athletes, and also function as an ambassador to our foreign guest athletes. I was stationed at various hotels to welcome foreign athletes and present them with their passes. These passes are unique to every holder and we control their level of access to various sports venues. I took pride in my role as we constitute the frontline security to keep unauthorized people out, as well as play host to our guests.

National Day Parade
2015 was landmark year for Singapore. Upon learning about the extensive celebrations for the Golden Jubilee, I volunteered to be part of the National Day Parade crew. During the parade, I was actually nowhere near the live action at the Padang and neither was I able to watch the live-streaming. Instead, I spent my time at the basement carpark of the Floating Platform, providing assistance to late-comers and manning the exits. Missing all the action was definitely a drawback, but the smiles and goodbyes of the 30,000-strong audience who showed their appreciation as we guided them out made it seem all worth it, since I was after all, serving my fellow countrymen on a day that meant much to Singaporeans.

Chingay
As I explore various roles, I volunteered for Chingay as a Crowd Motivator. This entails hyping the crowd up by singing and dancing among them at the Formula 1 Pit Building. Being the mood setter, we can make or break the audience’s experience. It may be tiring to sustain a high energy till the wee hours, but I was definitely having a good time and was sure the crowd did too.

CCAs
I joined the Rotaract Club of NTU as its Publicity and Publications Director. Although my role is to support the Club with publicity materials, I initiated and led the execution of an Introductory Workshop to Photoshop, where my committee and I can contribute to the NTU community through our strengths. With much support by my fellow Rotaractors, the event was a success that reached out to 30 participants and at the end of my tenure, I earned the title of Best Director for my contribution.

As the Publicity and Publications Director of Banking and Finance Club, I have also been involved in arranging various events including alumni talk sessions for the student community to find out more about career in different industries.

These are some of my volunteering experiences that I would like to share and hopefully inspire others to give back to the society. Volunteering can take form across various scales, from nation-wide events to school-wide. However, I believe as long as there is value and somebody benefits from what you are doing, it is worth pursuing and nothing should hold you back.

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Mason Moo Wei Yi

Having accumulated a year of regional work experience being based in different cities around the globe during my days in NBS, international volunteerism globally and locally were opportunities that knocked on my door, which I had the privilege of taking up as I juggled with my work attachments and studies.  

NTU Emcee Club (Singapore)
At the NTU Emcee Club, I had the privilege of getting to take on pro-bono emcee gigs that allowed me to be in a vocal position to lend a hand for the less fortunate. Such gigs include the TOTS Charity Drive 2017 and upcoming ones which I will have the opportunity to partake in. 

Additionally, I also had the privilege to contribute back to NTU which have nurtured me significantly. I have been enlisted to be a master-of-ceremony and panel moderator for some of my school events, including NBS Career Day 2018, CAC Guitar Ensemble Concert, and CAO Demystifying Series in Banking (collaboration with Goldman Sachs), which allowed me to bridge a communication channel for our fellow students and our key stake-holders.  

Financial Literacy Gaming App (Bangkok, Thailand)
During summer 2017, I joined a fin-tech start up, Lucolimat Ltd, in Bangkok, where the firm develops a forex trading game app, to assist and teach Asian millennials who are typically clueless about managing finances. We implemented Forex Trading campaigns to academic institutions in Thailand and Singapore such as Temasek Polytechnic, to better youths’ financial literacy knowledge through gamification, especially those in the lower-income group and those under financial assistance schemes to give them an additional leverage to break out of monthly checks-to-checks entrapments and develop a better understanding of financial literacy and budgeting.

Volunteer Management System Korea (Seoul, Korea)
Last semester, I joined Yonsei One Club, a club that focuses on giving, as it was striking different from the other student clubs that were marketing an acquisition of skills, languages or networks, during my exchange program in Korea. The club, fascinatingly composed of students from different countries with a common goal to get together to do social good, in my opinion was a fantastic way to enrich my overseas student life. 

My friends and I have initiated in an English enrichment project, a collaboration between Yonsei and a Welfare Centre, with an objective to boost the self-confidence and communication skills for children within the welfare institution by teaching them English. We came up with a user-friendly course syllables and Korean translation for the English language, and we committed our Fridays on a weekly basis to give them pro-bono lessons.

Furthermore, we were also involved in a Coal Delivery Project to brace impoverished families in Ant Village who are unable to afford heating facilities during Winter in Korea. We have raised funds and hand-delivered thousands of coals to these families, and this was a very local custom of giving back to society in Korea. Both programs will continue to be sustained by future batches of student leaders who join this program. 

Moving Forward
Moving forward, I will also be partaking in the upcoming annual ViaCommunity Walkathon to raise funds for Singapore Children’s Society in the near future. At the end of the day, I was thankful for all the past experiences including ala-carte donations to support the Las Vegas Rescue Mission for the homeless when I was working in Los Angeles, and fundraising campaigns in GIVE.asia, which allowed me to give back to society. Getting a university degree is more than just a mean of attaining financial independence, it is an enabler that allowed us to be in a strong position to make a positive change to the world. 

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Sim Zhen Wei

Unlike most, the way I started volunteering after the end of compulsory community involvement programs in Junior College was unconventional. It started off as a paid mathematics tuition, and it slowly evolved into free tutoring sessions after my tutee’s family faced financial difficulties. The transit found me a new purpose - to contribute to society in ways which I have means to.

Hall of Residence 1 - UniqKidz Camp
The idea of a 3-day non-residential camp for underprivileged children appealed to me particularly because of the name, “Uniqkidz” - a term coined by Hall 1 to illustrate the belief that the participants are unique and special, regardless of their family background.

As part of the UniqKidz Camp Main Committee, I was held with the responsibility of raising funds as well as the planning and execution of programmes for the camp. Being in the Programmes Committee allowed me to make a direct impact on the children as I could cater activities to the children’s enjoyment. The 3 days, although short, strongly encouraged me to further my volunteering efforts as the joy I received from seeing the smiles on all the children’s faces was immense. This was also the reason why I chose to stay on in the committee in 2015.

Nee Soon Football and Study Programme (NSFSP) at Chong Pang Community Club (CC)
Yishun has developed a reputation for bad news and has one of the lower national income profiles as compared to other housing estates. This compelled me to do something for the community that I grew up in. In 2016, I joined the NSFSP in its second year of establishment as I felt that its purpose resonates with me. Through this programme, children of lower-income families will get to experience soccer training after the completion of a study-mentorship programme. This motivates the students to not only work hard, but to play hard as well.

In 2017, I took over as the coordinator for the character development segment of the programme for the upper primary school levels. All these happened while I was juggling between my part-time internship and the curriculum in Nanyang Business School. To me, it was all about priorities - 3 hours off my weekly revision may mean a lower grade for my modules, but to the children, the 3 hours at Chong Pang CC would set the foundation for their education and values. I made it a point to attend all the sessions at Chong Pang CC on Saturdays to mentor and tutor the children and till date, I am still actively volunteering.

WeCare @ North West - Ready for School 2016
In 2016, after having started the volunteering journey at Chong Pang CC through NSFSP, I was given the opportunity to head the committee for the Ready for School, an annual event that had begun in 2013. Since its launch in 2013, Ready for School has benefitted more than 7,600 preschoolers from lower-income families in the North West District.

It was my first time organising a community event and it was an eye opener to the amount of planning required to run a good event. Alongside a group of committed volunteers and with the assistance from the staff of Chong Pang CC, I managed to put together an event that was interactive and fun. Not forgetting the spirit of giving and sharing the love for one another, we put in a thank you segment as part of the programmes lineup, whereby children can show appreciation for their parents through drawing or writing thank you notes. It was an endearing experience for me to witness the tear-jerking moment for all the families.

Chong Pang Community Development and Welfare Fund - Bursary Awards 2017
The success of the Ready for School event spurred me on to organise more community events. In 2017, I had the privilege to lead the organisation of Bursary Awards 2017. It was an honour to be given this opportunity as in my younger days, attending this event had always been a yearly milestone I looked forward to. Together with my group of volunteer friends, the Bursary Awards 2017 was organised with the aim to forge a stronger community bond in Yishun. It was a great joy to see everyone having fun, getting rewarded for their hard work and bonding with fellow Yishunites.

Keppel Volunteer (KV) at Keppel Corporation
In the second half of 2017, I undertook a full-time internship at Keppel Corporation. In that period of 7 months, I was very fortunate to be able to participate in 2 KV events and subsequently, organise a KV event. Even though the direction of the KV event was very different from any past volunteering experience that I have had, it was an enriching experience to be able to organise a visit to National Kidney Foundation (NKF). Working across various departments, the KV team was able to make the visit to the NKF Centre a fulfilling one for all the participants. We managed to interact with the beneficiaries at NKF and make cards with words of encouragement for them.

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