This is a 1 week overdue post largely due to my laziness.
Annie, Qianhui and I met up at the crack of dawn on last Sunday to do volunteering at an organisation named Willing Hearts. Annie and I had been there for a few times and we were really glad that we got Qianhui with us this time round. When it comes to this kind of thing the more the merrier isn’t it! 😀
I chanced upon this organisation a few months ago when I was googling for volunteering work in Singapore. Most voluntary organisations involve tutoring school children, counselling, or visiting elderly to have some words with them, all of which are not my forte. I tried volunteering at YMCA years ago which involves accompanying elderly to a lunch event, I don’t think I did a good job because I’m not proficient in my dialects at all, hence the awkwardness when I was not able to convey what I wanted to say to them. I turned to blood donation after this experience because my dad is a frequent blood donor and I thought I could follow his footsteps, but I was rejected for blood donations for 6 times (due to different kind of reasons like low iron level, small blood vessels, low blood pressure and weight). -_-
You can imagine my excitement when I read about Willing Hearts. Willing Hearts is a 100% volunteer-run, non-profit organisation set up to provide for the needy all over Singapore. A major part of their work is conducted through the operation of their soup kitchen which serves about 75,000 meals per month. It survives entirely on kindness of strangers; the food is donated and the help is made up of volunteers. What a better way for me to volunteer than to work with food. 🙂 Although I have to admit that the journey from my house which is in the west to their kitchen in Potong Pasir is often discouraging and long, but I figure it’s the least I can do.
The kitchen operates daily, from 6am to around 4pm. If, like me, you are interested in kitchen prep work, you need to get there very early (6am to 9am) to help out. Otherwise, you can also offer your services to pack the food for delivery, or even help out with the deliveries later in the morning or afternoon.
We were tasked to cut capsicums and peel copious amount of yams last Sunday when we were there. First time volunteers may be daunted by the scale of output, but always keep this in mind, many hands make light work! 🙂 It’s really heartwarming to see people from all walks of life there. Even though everyone is from a different background, all of them shared that common bond to be there at dawn to help in the hustle and bustle. I’m happy and grateful to have older aunties impart their knowledge to me as well. 🙂
There is no entry requirements to help out. If the early timing is a stumbling block to your attempts at volunteering, you can also join the team of Willing Hearts volunteers to scout the streets to distribute bread and water to migrant labourers and homeless vagrants on every Friday evening, between 10:30pm to 3am.
I’m really looking forward to shifting to Punggol in 3 years’ time because Willing Hearts would be just few mrt stops away from my house! If possible I would definitely bring my future kids along as well. It’s never too early to start volunteering. 🙂
Immensely grateful that I have these 2 kind souls with me
Find out more about Willing Hearts @ http://www.willinghearts.org.sg/
It will always be on your mind, and there will always be a reason to put it off. But there is no better time than NOW!
Love, Joy, Greens 