Ayer Rajah-West Coast

David, 50, has been a long-time grassroots leader since 2002. He has initiated many programmes to help low-income families e.g. Food for You, We Care, and Mentorship Programme. These programmes have reached out to over 1,000 needy residents in the community.

The Mentorship Programme was started in 2003 as David felt the need to further support needy children, such as counseling and guidance, other than helping them with bursaries. Through the programme, needy children were paired with mentors who provided them guidance with studies and character building.

One resident who had benefited from David’s care is a girl who was in secondary school when her family met with financial difficulties. David assisted the family by linking them to the relevant agencies for help, and also providing them with the encouragement and social support to tide through the difficult period. The girl has since graduated from university and the family is now coping well. She remembers David’s compassion and empathy during those times and how she had sent him a card of appreciation for his kindness and encouragement to the family.

Yuhua

Lang Kheng, 57, has been a long-time grassroots leader actively involved in working with elderly and needy residents. During her 21 years of community service, Lang Kheng has initiated and organized numerous programmes to uplift the less fortunate and elderly, such as bringing them out for excursions and starting a ‘Happy Angel Sharing Session’ to update them on latest issues/news happening in Singapore. Lang Kheng also set up a hotline to help distressed residents.

Lang Kheng has helped many families get back on their feet. One resident, whose social life was affected by her depression, was counseled by Lang Kheng. Through Lang Kheng’s intervention and constant support, the resident was plugged back to her community. She is now the leader of the division’s line dance troupe. On another occasion, while bringing the elderly out for excursions, she even assisted a stroke resident to change her diaper.

Chua Chu Kang

Su-Ling has been an active grassroots leader for the past 9 years.

Su-Ling‘s commitment and passion to community work has led her to spearhead a free legal clinic to residents at Chua Chu Kang who require legal advice. The clinic has helped over 500 residents since it was started 5 years ago. She gives selflessly of her personal time during these clinics, even to the late hours so as to be able to help as many residents as she can.

Hong Kah North

Elissa, 61, has been volunteering her services to the community for the past 20 years, and is one of the pioneers under the division’s Welfare Fund Committee since it was formed in the 1990s.

Elissa has worked tirelessly to lend a helping hand to the less fortunate in the community. Among the many programmes that she has started to help the needy is a reading programme to inculcate good reading habits in children from the low-income families. This programme has reached out to over 200 needy children.

Elissa believes in adopting a holistic approach to helping the residents. Apart from helping them to get practical aid, such as financial assistance from the CDC, she also assists them in other areas of need. On one occasion, she went the extra mile to assist a widow on the necessary burial procedures of her husband who passed away suddenly. She also helped to make the necessary childcare arrangements for the widow’s children.

Pioneer

Choong Hui, 54, has been involved with the community for more than 15 years. Choong Hui’s commitment and passion to community work is shown in his willingness to upgrade himself to become a better community volunteer helping those in distress and need, such as attending related workshops/courses to help him manage residents better, or those related to helping mentally challenged residents and their families.

Although many of Choong Hui’s fellow grassroots leaders and residents whom he had helped gave praise to his compassion and empathy, Choong Hui credits the courses that he had attended to giving him the right tools to help those in need. One helpless family he assisted was one who has an untreated psychiatric member in their household. Through providing the family with the available resources to seek treatment for the ill family member, Choong Hui managed to persuade them to do so.