Cheryl Lim, Channel NewsAsia 4 Sep 09;
SINGAPORE : A new flexible volunteer system is gaining popularity among Singaporeans.
It is just days before the official launch of SG Cares, a flexible volunteer programme. But some 1,600 Singaporeans have already signed up, most of them first-time volunteers.
Around 200 of them have clocked in more than 400 hours of volunteer work.
Jaclyn Chew, SG Cares volunteer, said: "Before SG Cares, I had the feeling that you need to have a lot of commitment and time before you can do volunteer work. After that I realised that this is a good opportunity for me to try out what kind of volunteer work would interest me."
Organised by the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre, the programme centres around an online portal that matches its members to ad-hoc volunteer projects that do not require commitment to a fixed schedule.
The project is based on similar programmes in New York and Boston.
SG Cares is hoping to organise at least 50 projects each month, and it is confident that offering a variety of opportunities will draw in more volunteers.
Some of the programmes offered by SG Cares include beach clean-ups, playing bingo with the elderly and youth reading programmes. The organisation hopes that these programmes will help them attract their target of 7,000 to 8,000 volunteers by September next year.
David Fong, director, SG Cares, said: "We hope that by having this facility, by making it easy, convenient and meaningful, we can at least try and facilitate this transformation to make volunteering a whole lot more spontaneous."
Although the programme is aimed at busy Singaporeans, the group is also hoping to draw in groups of volunteers like schools and companies as well.
Those interested can log on SG Cares' website from Sunday, September 6.
http://www.sgcares.org/
- CNA/ms
