SUSS TORCH

With goals to improve low-income seniors’ quality of life; as well as to prevent social isolation of poor and vulnerable seniors in identified blocks of HDB rental flats; and to facilitate better co-ordination in the provision of community-based support services to the seniors, as members of the Lions Club West, we are responsible for organising monthly enrichment activities and festive celebrations for the elderly (examples of some events will be hightlighted in the next section below).

Across the 2 years of interactions, I have also bonded with some of the elderly. Some have even gotten comfortable enough to share some of their personal life stories with us. This led to scenarios where I gave them a listening ear and even tried to give them words of encouragement. This speaks volumes on how we as volunteers’, can have an impact to their lives and serve as an alternative form of support system for the beneficiaries.

I am so glad to have been a part of this and have thoroughly enjoyed myself during every session with the elderly. (:

This was the first event I was involved in after joining SUSS Torch, where a game Bingo was prepared for the elderly .

This experience had shed light on the fact how BINGO was actually their most favoured game as it involves the least amount of movements and difficulties, but it brings about great amounts of excitement and joy to them as they stand a chance to win gifts prepared for them.

One challenge while interacting with the elderly is language barrier. Most of them communicate via dialects (Hokkien and Cantonese) but my knowledge on them were limited. Hence, like everyone else, I tried communicating with them through the universal sign language, and with my brief knowledge on Cantonese.

Overall, I had a fun and great time interacting and playing with the elderly, especially for such meaningful events.

I was given the opportunity to be in-charge of this event with 2 of my friends.

We had to brainstorm on ideas on ways to carry out the event. Upon careful planning, we have decided to including lantern-painting as a key activity to engage with the elderly. The photos below showcases the fun everyone had as well as the decorated lanterns by the elderly. Another activity we had incorporated was a 'word guessing game', where hints would be given and the elderly have to guess the word behind the hints and will be awarded prizes once they guessed it correctly. We tried to engage all elderly as we had planned to give out prizes to all of them.

Also, what is mid-autumn festival without moon cakes and snacks? We served the elderly moon cakes as well as Muah Chee that were made by our members.

I felt an immense sense of joy and achievement after the whole event as it felt as if all our effort that was put into planning have been paid off after seeing the lovely smiles and joy of the elderly.

With regards to this group of younger beneficiaries, we were responsible for organising and providing monthly mentoring and enrichment activities.

When it comes to mentoring the kids, I take on a softer approach when dealing with the kids. Acts of kindness, patience, understanding and the sincerity to help were often displayed when interacting with the kids. Befriending the kids had also made each interaction and every session a fun one.

The latter on enrichment activities focuses on purposely crafting mini-lessons based on themes (eg. Problem-Solving, Self-Discipline, Respect, etc...), to impart valuable life-lessons to the young.

Apart of monthly enrichment and mentoring sessions with the kids, I also took part in planning and volunteering to bring the kids out for a day of learning and fun at Singapore Zoo (further elaborated below).

As mentioned, SUSS Torch was previously known as UNISIM Lions.

A formal ceremony was organised to charter us as official members and Board of Directors (BODs) for the first ever Lions Club school campus in Singapore. More specifically, on the day these photos were taken, members of the the Lions Club West were invited to witness and grace the event.

Although it may seem to be an ordinary day, I felt a great sense of responsibility to give back to the society whenever I can. Unfortunately, after the change to SUSS Torch and a change of direction of this SL, I am no longer a member of the club but it does not change my passion and will to give back to the society within my means.

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Whilst being part of the BOD, as a Project Director, I was actively involved in attending multiple meetings with the team to plan, discuss, organise and execute activities and events for both the SL group and our targeted beneficiaries. Specifically, we took on roles as volunteers and mentors to serve 2 groups of beneficiaries; The Elderly at Lion Befrienders and underprivileged youths (Primary School students) at KidzShine - Singapore Children Society (SCS).

The former largely revolved around planning and organising festive celebrations (eg. Mid-Autumn Festival & Christmas) for the elderly beneficiaries. Elements of fun and joy were often incorporated through active and personal interactions with the elderly as well as organising engaging activities (eg. Lantern painting, mochi-making and BINGO) to create fun and memorable memories for their ‘Golden Years’. Every session has always been a privilege and a joy to play and interact with the elderly. It was also very heart-warming to witness the smiles on their faces when they see and interact with us.

As for the latter, during the initial stages of being a Project Director, I had worked closely with the team of BOD to set a new direction for the club. Instead of just serving the elderly, we decided to branch out our service to enrich the lives and provide assistance to younger underprivileged beneficiaries in Singapore. We had sourced for, contacted and even, met up with several potential partnering organisations to secure a successful collaboration with our SL group; with which we have engaged a successful collaboration with KidzShine - Singapore Children Society (SCS).

For this group of young beneficiaries, we had planned and organised monthly enrichment games and activities to interact and engage with the students. Each monthly activities were purposely crafted based on themes (eg. Problem-Solving, Self-Discipline, Respect, etc...) that strives to achieve the end-goals of imparting valuable life-lessons to the young. We even took on roles as a mentor/tutor to guide and assist them with their school assignments. Beyond that, we had also successfully organised a 1-day Zoo expedition trip for the beneficiaries at KidzShine (Sep 2017) and I was part of the Financial and Sponsorship committee for the overall event.

Overall, my 2-year stint at SUSS Torch has been a journey of multiple ups and downs. It has exposed me to many learning experiences including learning how to manage and work with diverse groups of people – from members to kids and elderly, as well as exposure to hone my communication and interpersonal skills (eg. Voicing out my opinions during discussions that required decision-making for the SL group). Through the multiple interactions with the various groups of beneficiaries, it has also taught me how to better appreciate and be grateful of the simplest things in life, especially when we live a more privileged lives as compared to what some of the beneficiaries are going through.