i.Volunteer brings cheers

This year’s i.Volunteer saw some 120 NUS students taking time off their studies to visit and interact with beneficiaries on 6 December. Now into its fifth year, the annual event organised by the Office of Student Affairs and Red Cross Youth (NUS Chapter) provides a platform for first-time volunteers to experience a day of volunteering.

i.Volunteer Children’s sector conducted a programme that comprised two main activities revolving around Christmas. Beneficiaries and volunteers joined hands to build a paper Christmas tree and personal snow globes. This was followed by an educational tour to Gardens by the Bay, where the children learnt to appreciate the beauty of nature.

Children capturing the beauty of nature at Gardens by the Bay

Another group held a mini-concert with a Christmas sing-along session at the Red Cross Home for the Disabled. The volunteers then brought the beneficiaries on a tour of Changi Airport, which included the Pokemon@Changi exhibit.

Other students had some fun making Christmas crafts with beneficiaries at the Bishan Home for the Intellectually Disabled. Together, they decorated the Day Activity Centre with “snowmen” to spread the joy of the festive season.

A beneficiary of the Red Cross Home for the Disabled looking at the Pokemon@Changi exhibit

A separate team of volunteers visited Ghim Moh Senior Activity Centre, a part of Lions Befrienders, to engage elderly beneficiaries in Bingo games and a karaoke session of traditional folk songs. The event culminated with an excursion to Sentosa, where the seniors visited Madame Tussauds Wax Museum among other attractions.

These activities offered the students an opportunity of sharing with the less privileged, while inculcating a sense of fulfilment in volunteerism.