Volunteerism is not rocket science. Neither is it like an academic subject to be studied. One does not need a complete understanding of the inner mechanics or the theories put forth by various schools of thought in order to volunteer effectively.
In fact, we would say that volunteerism can be distilled into something really simple and straightforward - courage, empathy and generosity.
Courage: To step out from one's comfort zone, such as interacting with children or assisting them to shop for groceries;
Empathy: To share the feelings of the children by putting ourselves in their shoes;
Generosity: Give generously, not just financially, but our time, our energy, our experiences and skill-set.
Our heart is full of gratitude for the 5 individuals who have stepped forward to sponsor and volunteer for our FRESH @ Clementi programme.
Sally, Hwee Ying, Soon Sum, Chee Hung and Wai Loon have not worked with children before. However, they were bold enough to venture out of their comfort zone to volunteer with us; displaying much empathy towards the needs of our children as they went around looking for groceries; and being generous with their time and energy. They could have chosen to spend their free time on a Friday afternoon cafe-hopping or catching a movie; but they had chosen to spend it on and with our children.
With that, we would like to say a big THANK YOU to them for demonstrating how simple volunteerism can be. We hope this inspires individuals who are thinking of taking the first step to start volunteering :)
