Every year, the NUS Economics Alumni joins the NUS Day of Service. In 2021, the group collaborated with the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) for the third time, to host the patients of Outram Community Hospital and Sengkang Community Hospital. Due to the COVID-19 situation, the event was held online on 7 September.

Participants first did a warm-up exercise, followed by a round of Bingo and a game where participants had to guess the name of 10 songs. All participants received a goodie bag, comprising items which included a 500ml Thermal Flask. The day ended with a recorded sing-along of 2 familiar tunes, Home and Voices of the Heart, which were put forth by the FASS community of staff, students and NUS Economics Alumni. The event was well-received by the patients, nurses, hospital staff and the NUS community who was a part of this year’s activity.

Submitted by Mr Edwin Chen (Arts and Social Sciences ’08)

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)