NUS Day of Service (DOS) 2021 was truly a trial for the Raffles Hall Association (RHA) alumni community, with updates of undergraduates being issued quarantine notice the week leading to the day of the event. The Senior Common Room Committee (SCRC) was over-stretched, having had to adapt to new arrangements, while ensuring that the mental wellbeing of RH residents were taken care of. RH alumni thus agreed that it would be wiser to excuse all Hall residents from volunteering together with alumni for the safety and wellbeing of all.

With the evolving situation, the DOS Programme Directors, Mr Leonard Tan (Engineering ’18) and Mr Ng Kian Seng (Science ’86) swiftly adapted to plan B. The party of alumni comprised Mr David Peh (Accountancy ‘74), Mr Lui Seng Fatt (Architecture ‘78), Ms Elsie Lian (Accountancy ‘81), Ms Kam Wai Kuen (Science ‘86), Ms Lim Swee Kim (Computing ‘88), Mr Soo Yew Weng (Engineering ‘89) and Ms Rosita Ng (Law ‘93), who volunteered at Willing Hearts on the afternoon of 4 September. The group was also delighted to learn that Seng Fatt and Elsie are husband and wife!

Willing Hearts is a secular, non-affiliated charity, wholly run by volunteers and a handful of staff. It operates a soup kitchen that prepares, cooks and distributes about 10,000 daily meals to over 70 locations island wide, 365 days a year. Beneficiaries include the elderly, the disabled, low income families, children from single parent families or otherwise poverty stricken families, and migrant workers in Singapore.

Since the RH alumni volunteers consisted mostly seniors, they were assigned to prepare vegetables in an open area that had good circulation of clean air. Working alongside more than 150 volunteers in the midst of a pandemic should not be underestimated – all volunteers, including RH alumni, were briefed clearly on observing safe management measures, before they worked hard to prepare meals for over 10,000 beneficiaries.

It is commendable to note that Leonard arrived at Willing Hearts in the morning, volunteering alongside the staff of NUS Alumni Relations and the NUS Students’ Union (NUSSU) Alumni for the earlier shift. Since the early hours of the morning, he assisted with meal preparation and was more than happy to continue serving the wider community with his RH family, especially during the ongoing pandemic.

Quoting senior alumnus, David, “I did not quite know what to expect when I signed up for the DOS at Willing Hearts. But I am glad I did. It was heartening to see members of RH alumni cheerfully working as a team and helping out. A couple of fit RH alumni guys were even recruited by Willing Hearts to help them out with the unloading of donated fresh produced. Thank you, organisers!”

Submitted by Ms Lim Swee Kim (Computing ’88)

NUS Day of Service (DOS) is a yearly event for the NUS family to come together and give back to the community. For 2021, NUS Engineering partnered with SGAssist, a social enterprise co-founded by Mr Greg Tan and Mr Adrian Tan. SGAssist is a home healthcare service which aims to create a positive social impact through technology. Among many others, the organisations that benefited from them include Lions Befrienders, Keat Hong Community Centre and The Man Fut Tong Nursing Home. One of SGAssist’s key innovation is a mobile application that taps on the help of nearby Community Responders. Crowdsourcing the community for assistance, SGAssist functions as a platform for volunteers to extend a helping hand towards requests for aid. Depending on the requests received, the tasks may involve everyday activities such as purchasing groceries or accompanying the elderly to the polyclinic.

Leveraging on the platform allowed NUS Engineering’s alumni, staff, and undergraduates to give back to the community at their own time, and also the choice on the type of assistance they were comfortable with providing. NUS Engineering is grateful to the 37 successful volunteers who were willing to put in time and effort to this good cause, in the name of DOS. To raise some examples, using the SGAssist App, Ms Anthea Foong (Engineering ’21) committed to tutor for young children from low-income families for 30min to an hour weekly, Ms Tay Yen Siah (Engineering ’20) assisted with meals distribution, and Mr Tian Hongyu Tian (Engineering ’13) accompanied an elderly to his medical appointment at the polyclinic.

 After the session, Mr Tian reflected, “I accompanied [the elderly] from his bus ride to the polyclinic and back. I could understand why he needed assistance as it was a long wait, and the journey took half a day. The experience was meaningful, and I will do this again.” NUS Engineering would like to encourage everyone to continue their efforts in volunteering, as an each effort goes a long way in helping people in need.

Submitted by Ms Ellen Poh.