Key takeaways:

• SPD’s staff takes part in many different activities to reach out to, spread love and care and to make a difference in various communities around Singapore.
• “Through this meaningful activity, we are able to contribute our parts to the needy members of our society. At the same time, it is also a good opportunity for team bonding with our fellow colleagues”.
• “It was heartwarming to see the smiles on the patients’ faces when we give what little we have and contribute a little something to brighten up their days. It was hard work, but we were all happy to do it”.

Giving back to the society is important. Between October and December every year, SPD’s staff takes part in many different activities to reach out to, spread love and care and to make a difference in various communities around Singapore. This year, over 300 staff contributed close to 2,400 hours to help out at places such as the soup kitchen, hospice, animal shelter and homes and centres for children and the elderly. Here are some of the notable efforts by a few of the departments.

Willing Hearts

Willing Hearts, a secular, non-affiliated charitable organisation wholly run by volunteers and a few staff. It operates a soup kitchen that prepares, cooks and distributes free food to needy people across the island, every day. The teams from Organisational Development (OD) and SPD@Bedok visited the soup kitchen over two days in September and October to help peel and cut vegetables, thaw frozen meat, cut and marinate chicken, cook and pack food. Despite the laborious work, the team was in high spirits, having fun even through the unfamiliarity.

“We had a great day at Willing Hearts. It was a fantastic opportunity to give something back to the community, while also having fun and working as a team,” said Gallagher Bronagh Theresa, one of SPD’s speech therapist.

Mabel Chan, senior IT executive, shared the sentiments. “Through this meaningful activity, we are able to contribute our parts to the needy members of our society. At the same time, it is also a good opportunity for team bonding with our fellow colleagues,” she said.

The Organisational Development (OD) department was at Willing Hearts to help prepare food for the soup kitchen.

SPD@Bedok at Willing Hearts

Food Bank Singapore

The Food Bank Singapore Ltd, is a registered charity organisation founded in 2012 that aims to bridge the gap in the market by collecting excess food and providing it to organisations and people in need. Their donors include food industry organisations, hotels, restaurants and families. The food collected are matched and transported to needy individuals and those in voluntary welfare organisations (VWOs), such as SPD.

Staff from the Sheltered Workshop and SPD@Jurong was at the Food Bank in November and December to help out by checking the expiry dates of the food items, sorting the donated food by categories, packing sacks of rice into smaller packets and inventorying the items on a mobile application.

“It was a humbling experience for me to volunteer in this organisation. The amount of food waste is shocking. The experience reminded me how blessed I am to be able to eat and kept me mindful about not needlessly wasting food,” said Lau Shin Yun, an EIPIC teacher.

Red Shield Industries

On 27 October 2017, the Employment Support Programme (ESP) team went to Red Shield Industries at Tanglin, a social enterprise arm of The Salvation Army. The organisation generates funds by re-using, recycling and restoring donations in kind from the public and various corporations and selling them through its Family Thrift Stores to support their mission of providing holistic care to the community.

The team went to help organise the Family Thrift Stores, sorting coins that came in as donations and cleaning the area. The team got to experience firsthand the backbreaking labour behind sorting out the donations which included toys, books, electrical and household appliances, furniture and piles of clothing. “It was hard work, sorting one pallet after another of donated goods,” said Michael Lee, a trainer with SPD.the aspiring speech therapists out there, do you want to be an agent of change? If so, this is a career that will challenge and exceed your expectations.

HCA Hospice Care

The Community Partnerships (CP) division’s CSR on 10 October 2017 was held at HCA Hospice Care, a registered charity in Singapore providing comfort and support to patients with life-limiting illnesses. The division helped to prepare, cook and pack lunches for the patients and also took part in activities such as singing and dancing with them. It was a day well-spent for the staff.

“It was heartwarming to see the smiles on the patients’ faces when we give what little we have and contribute a little something to brighten up their days. It was hard work, but we were all happy to do it,” said Felix Tan, Communications Executive.

The Community Partnerships (CP) department engaging the elderlys at HCA Hospice Care Centre in some fun and games.

They also helped to prepare, pack and cook the food for the patients at the hospice.