United in Care

By Care Corner

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”

– Mahatma Gandhi

It was the eve of the Circuit Breaker, and a few senior managers from Care Corner gathered in a meeting to discuss which group of service users they were most worried about during the COVID-19 pandemic. Talks about the issues faced by the low-income families and vulnerable seniors soon turned into an impassioned brainstorming session on what staff could do to help. That night, Care Acts was born: a staff-led initiative that grew into an organisation-wide effort to show practical acts of care to the people most affected by the pandemic.

Staff quickly formed teams to assemble and distribute care packs comprising basic necessities to seniors in isolation. Even today, efforts are ongoing to pack and deliver Stay Home Engagement Kits (comprising a Self-Care Kit and a Tactile Craft Kit) to help these seniors stay mentally engaged at home.

We rise by lifting others."

– Robert Ingersoll

Staff quickly formed teams to assemble and distribute care packs comprising basic necessities to seniors in isolation. Even today, efforts are ongoing to pack and deliver Stay Home Engagement Kits (comprising a Self-Care Kit and a Tactile Craft Kit) to help these seniors stay mentally engaged at home.

Teams sought sponsors for mobile phones and SIM cards for seniors with no communication devices, so that they could continue to keep in touch with their family members and social workers. Care Corner also secured sponsorship to help seniors who had problems paying the rent on their flats. In addition, staff worked quickly to source for laptops for low-income families whose children were struggling to cope with Home-Based Learning (HBL) in part due to the lack of learning devices.

Mdm Sonia* was one of the beneficiaries who received a laptop from the Care Acts initiative. The sole breadwinner of her family supports her wheelchair-bound husband and six young children aged 3 to 13. The five school-going children had to share one device, but receiving the extra laptop allowed all the children to complete their homework on time and attend their lessons online.

By rallying behind a common purpose, and uniting to help those in greater need, staff found that it helped put their own challenges into perspective. Martin Chok, Assistant Director of Youth Services, said: “Initially, it felt frustrating being stuck at home, not being able to meet up with friends and colleagues, and having to juggle work and helping my children with HBL. But when I saw what our service users were going through, I really felt what I was experiencing is no way near what they have undergone.”

CEO Mr Yap Poh Kheng shared: “Compassion runs deep in our people. It motivates and keeps us going when things get tough. We thought there was no better way to unite our people and encourage them during this period than to do what they are most passionate about: caring for the disadvantaged in society.”

*Names have been replaced to protect the privacy of the service users.