6 Places To Volunteer At Over The Holiday Season
Christmas is always a time to be thankful and to give back. Aside from donating your gently used goods, if you (and the kids) are looking to volunteer your time and skills to bring a smile to the less fortunate, check out these inspiring places to get you started.
1. Bring someone a hot meal
It’s easy to forget about others when we're busy feasting away at festive gatherings. But how nice would it be to help deliver a hot meal to home-bound, elderly folk through Touch Community Services’ Meals-on-Wheels programme? Often living alone, these senior citizens rely almost 100% on daily meal deliveries, so you could really help spread the Christmas cheer. Take the kids along to help out too.
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2. Help cook a meal for the needy
A secular, non-affiliated charity, Willing Hearts is almost entirely run by volunteers as it operates a soup kitchen that prepares, cooks and distributes about 5,000 daily meals to over 40 locations islandwide. Beneficiaries include the elderly, the disabled, low income families, children from single parent families or otherwise poverty stricken families, and migrant workers in Singapore. Apart from actually cooking the meal, you can also help out with everything from prepping ingredients to packing lunch boxes and washing up.
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3. Deliver surplus food waste to someone who could use it
Food from the Heart is a non-profit organisation that feeds the needy through its food distribution programme. Running since 2003, the good people here channel surplus food and unsold bread from bakeries to those in need. Want to do more? Participate in their toy drives and help collate and distribute toys to children.
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4. Spend a day with the elderly
Donate your time and bring a smile to a senior citizen who lives alone and craves companionship or needs help with simple day-to-day duties. On a mission to provide friendship and care for seniors through community participation, enabling them to enjoy meaningful and enriching lives, volunteering as a Lions Befriender is very fulfilling.
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5. Help Mother Nature
This one is another great one for the kids. Nature Society (Singapore) is a non-profit organisation that advocates the conservation of Singapore’s natural environment, promoting nature awareness and nature appreciation. Participate in horseshoe crab research and rescue, research the Mandai mudflats, help clear up the aquatic vegetation at the Kranji Marshes, or even just promote Veggie Thursdays across the island. Also available are nature appreciation activities like guided nature walks, bird and butterfly watching, slide talks and overseas eco-trips.
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6. Help disabled children through art
Another fulfilling charity to get the children to volunteer at. Arts & Disability Singapore (ART: DIS) launched in 1993 with a vision to provide people with disabilities empowerment and social integration through the arts. Students and adults alike can volunteer their skills in dance, yoga, music, singing or drama to help provide disabled students a platform to better express themselves while boosting their self-esteem.
Get involved here
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