Stay active throughout the week and fill your days with volunteering. With a wide range of roles suited for different passions and skills, there is certainly something out there that will pique your interest.
As part of the 2023 I Feel Young SG campaign, the Silver Volunteer Fund is a $40 million fund set up to help community organisations rexruit and develop senior volunteers.
With a dollar-to-dollar match system for the fund, the public has donated $20 million to support senior volunteers.
With this budget, numerous charities and NGOs have curated innovative volunteering programmes where silvers can not only give back to their community, but develop new skills along the way as well. From tour guides to writers, the paths are limitless.
Let’s embody the I Feel Young SG campaign; live well and age well with the volunteering activity list below.
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1. Befrienders at Lions Befrienders
“Befrienders”, a term passed around quite often today, is a booming volunteer role. Entailing weekly home visits to seniors with limited family support (at high risk of isolation), silvers will make great volunteers.
With more common ground to bond over as peers, silvers can easily make connections and encourage greater participation in active ageing centres’ programmes.
Befrienders at Lions Befrienders
Tel: +65 6681 4935
Website: https://www.lionsbefrienders.org.sg/
2. Guides at RSVP Singapore
Similar to the Reunion Senior Programme launched by the National Heritage Board, RSVP’s Senior Guiding Programmes allow silvers to provide concierge services — greeting visitors, offering directions, conducting guided tours, etc. — to visitors at different venues.
RSVP has partnered with culture and healthcare centres for this programme; seniors can choose to work in the Indian Heritage Centre, Science Centre Singapore, Sengkang General Hospital, and more.
Guides at RSVP Singapore
Tel: +65 6259 0802
Website: https://rsvp.org.sg/
3. Children Tutors at Methodist Welfare Services
With this unique after-school care programme for disenfranchised communities, Methodist Welfare Services looks beyond academics to focus more on holistic, character-building education.
As such, silvers’ duties here centre more on guiding children to participate and collaborate in games, working with them on music and arts, to build the children’s confidence to socialise with peers and more. For those with a passion for working with children, this is the right role for you.
Children Tutors at Methodist Welfare Services
Tel: +65 6478 4700
Website: https://mws.sg/
4. Cooks at HCSA
Learn the art of cooking and explore new cuisines with the chefs of HCSA Academy.
Do so whilst also giving back to the community. Some of the meals cooked by silvers will be given to the residents and staff of HCSA Highpoint Halfway House, a place for homeless male ex-offenders, newly released prisoners and those in recovery from addiction, to restart their lives.
Cooks at HCSA
Tel: +65 6745 3532
Website: https://hcsa.org.sg/
5. Writer/Journalist at YAH! Organisation
A volunteer and developmental opportunity all in one, this is a chance for silvers to get a brief glimpse into a different career. With a few months of classes on a skill of their choice from the organisation, silvers can facilitate lessons for other seniors.
With a specific pursuit in writing, YAH! Organisation offers an avenue where silvers can become in-house journalists reporting on events held by the organisation.
Writer/Journalist at YAH! Organisation
Tel: +65 6445 0300
Website: https://www.yah.org.sg/
6. Healthcare Assistant at Bethesda Care Centre
With the motto “strengthening the weakest link”, the Bethesda Care Centre focuses on “empowering people of diverse intellectual capabilities to make useful contributions to society”.
Through Bethesda’s FAME programme, silvers will be engaged in roles such as teaching essential life skills, supporting participation in psychoeducation, facilitating socialisation, and more, to build independence and confidence amongst those that are neurodivergent.
Healthcare Assistant at Bethesda Care Centre
Tel: +65 6340 4157
Website: https://www.bcare.org.sg/
7. Performers and Senior Groomers at En Community Services and Society (ECSS)
Have a knack for the performing arts? ECSS provides you with an avenue to showcase your instrument and singing abilities as you get to perform in a band, or solo, for nursing homes.
Beyond that, delve a little into cosmetology as you can also be trained for manicures, pedicures and make-up for fellow seniors.
Performers and Senior Groomers at En Community Services and Society (ECSS)
Tel: +65 6788 6625
Website: https://ecss.org.sg
