Eusoff Voluntary Corps

EVC Overview

Eusoff Voluntary Corps (EVC) is a voluntary organization under the umbrella of Eusoff Hall, National University of Singapore. We believe that the “haves” possess no special virtues, but are simply lucky to have been born in relatively affluent environment. The “have-nots”, on the other hand, are desperate through no fault of their own. With that in mind, we strive to fulfill our moral duties to the less fortunate people within the local community.

EVC is currently one of the biggest committees in Eusoff Hall with around 90 members working hand-in-hand. There are three programmes under EVC, namely Elderly Service (ES), Salvation Army (SA), and MINDS. On top of regular volunteering services, we also organize ad-hoc events such as Mid-Autumn Celebration, Chinese New Year Dinner, Grant-a-Wish Project, Post Exam Party, Sports Session, MINDS Merchandise Sale, and so on for our beneficiaries.

EVC’s excellent and outstanding accomplishment in community projects has been recognized when we received NUS Student Achievement Awards 2011 earlier in February 2011. This year, we strive to further promote volunteerism among the residents of Eusoff Hall and to bring the quality of our volunteering service to greater height.

Elderly Service

The EVC-Elderly group is formed several years ago through the effort of some senior Eusoffians who felt the urge to perform community service to help the local elderly Singaporeans..

EVC Elderly Service is actively involved in supporting the elderly community around Chin Swee Road, both physically and emotionally. The elderly that we are serving are those that have been marginalized by our society. Due to their poor financial and health conditions, they have serious difficulties in looking after their own basic needs. Not to mention the language barrier which keeps them from getting in touch with other people and make them socially inept. One elderly, in fact, collects recyclable goods for a living and continues to cook with charcoal and to light up the room with candles. Thus, we strive to aid in the social, emotional and physical well-being of the needy and lonely elderly who are struggling in their life. Other than delivering food to them every Saturday, we also help them, especially those with mobility difficulties, to do household chores and to buy groceries. Projects such as Health Management Programme and Grant-a-Wish Project are too carried out to ensure that the health conditions of the elderly are well cared and their material needs are fulfilled. We also organize events such as Mid-Autumn Celebration and Chinese New Year Dinner to ensure that the elderly are not left out during these festive occasions.

Scale and Impact of EVC-Elderly

Our objective is to bring hope to the lives of the needy elderly by offering these individuals our friendship since most of them have no next-of-kin or have no one to care for them, despite living alone.

Contributions in the form of food donations from vendors in the NUS Arts Canteen are sent every Saturday to the elderly.

Apart from delivering food, volunteers also help to repair minor damage, do weekly household chores like sweeping and mopping and also help the elderly to carry out some spring cleaning work to their home.

Lending an Ear

The EVC-Elderly group also lends an ear to their grievances, their complaints of pain and even their reminiscences of their past. Our members help to provide support to these elderly be it physically or emotionally. There is a close rapport between the volunteers and elderly which gives them something to look forward to on our visits.

Events

We have get-together events such as Mid-Autumn Festival and also Chinese New Year dinner every year so that the elderly do not feel left out during festive occasions. During Mid-Autumn Festival, we will find sponsors to buy some food including moon cakes, pomelos, herbal teas and etc to share the joy with these elderly. Some of us will perform singing activities and play lanterns with them too. As many of the elderly comprises of Chinese, we also hold an annual CNY celebration dinner with them at the nearby Red Star Restaurant as a form of our love and warmth care towards them.

Health Management Programme

The EVC-Elderly members also undertake the Health Management Project which was initiated to monitor the health conditions of the elderly under our care. We conduct health screenings for the elderly once every six months to check their blood pressure and blood glucose level. If there is any case of high blood pressure or glucose level, we will send them to the clinic for further check-up.

Beyond normal responsibilities

The EVC-Elderly members also go beyond the scope of their normal responsibilities. Recently, when an elderly under their care passed away with no next-of-kin, the EVC-Elderly group interviewed various social organisations and successfully helped to arrange a decent and proper funeral for the elderly.

Salvation Army

The EVC-Salvation Army (SA) service basically involves of volunteers giving tuition to the children at the Salvation Army Centre, The Haven.

The Haven is a residential home for abandoned, abused and neglected children, mostly referred to The Salvation Army for care by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports. Majority of these children come from families facing constant medical, emotional, and financial problems. Children with such backgrounds often end up with a low self-esteem and self-confidence and constantly lag behind their schoolwork.

Thus, the EVC-SA together with the dedicated staffs from The Haven will try their best to help the children at The Haven in their educational and social development.

The SA Team which is made up of 56 members, are further subdivided into two groups to carry out the two-hour tuition on Tuesday and Wednesday weekly in correspondence to the academic terms of the children. Our members are paired up with the children on one-to-one basis so that the children can get undivided attention from our members during the tutoring sessions.

Besides giving tuition, our members have also helped The Haven in their preparation for their Thanksgiving Dinner performance recently in early December. Our members who are good in the performing arts have helped to teach the children how to act, sing and dance.

On top of that, the SA also organizes a post-exam party every year to reward the children for their hard work throughout the year.

SA Sports Session

Objectives:

• To teach the kids of The Haven some basic sports techniques
• To further enhance the relationship between EVC SA volunteers and kids from The Haven

In the past two years, EVC SA has been collaborating unofficially with the floorball players of Eusoff Hall to organize the Sports Session with the kids. The kids were brought to NUS and taught some basic floorball techniques by our Eusoff sportsmen. The session has been receiving good response from the kids thus far. Not only does the Sports Session successfully stimulate their interest in playing sports, the kids in general are eager to participate in the next session. As such, we have decided to make the Sports Session an official event and we plan to have it twice this year.

Movement for Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (MINDS)

MINDS stands for Movement for Intellectually Disabled of Singapore. It is one of the largest
Voluntary Welfare Organisations in Singapore., serving 2,400 intellectually disabled personnel from
past the age of six to their ripe old age. MINDS Program under EVC includes a weekly-based service
which members will visit Clementi Training and Development Center (CTDC) to befriend and
interact with the clients in that center. Besides weekly service, EVC MINDS Program also organise a
few major events in collaboration with MINDS CTDC to raise funds for MINDS CTDC.

AY10/11
There are 8 members under EVC MINDS Program in this academic year as this is the first year
which MINDS Program under EVC resumes it service. Members attended weekly services in two
groups on different weekdays. Service starts at 2.30p.m and ends at 4.30p.m. Female volunteers
helped out during Art and Craft Session for female clients while male volunteers helped out during
the sports session held for male clients in CTDC. Besides helping out during these mentioned
sessions, members would have to accompany clients for a short walk around CTDC.

AY11/12
EVC-MINDS this year is made up of 20 members in this academic year. There is one morning
session (9.00a.m to 11.00a.m) on Tuesday and two afternoon sessions (2.30p.m to 4.30p.m) on
Wednesday and Thursday. Besides weekly services, EVC-MINDS Program will also set up booth
in Eusoff Hall to sell Crafts made by clients (as shown in the figure below) in CTDC during Social
Awareness Week in October.

This event is held to support the fund of MINDS CTDC. Furthermore, volunteers wil be sent to
attend the MINDS Concert on 14th and 15th of October which will be held in Republic Polytechnic
to help out with preparation work before the concert starts. In the end of semester, EVC-MINDS will
also organise a Old Books and Clothes Donation Drive in Eusoff Hall.

AY 1112

EVC Mid Autumn Celebration

AY 0910

EVC Mooncake Festival

AY 0809

EVC CNY Dinner

EVC Mooncake Festival

AY 0708

EVC CNY Dinner

Grant-a-Wish Project

Apart from the weekly services, EVC also holds a combined project annually where the Elderly Service and Salvation Army members work together with Eusoff Expedition members during Social Awareness Week in Eusoff Hall to help raise funds and also to create awareness among Eusoff Hall residents about the less fortunate.

The funds that have been raised by EVC from Social Awareness Week are used for the Grant-A-Wish project where we purchase stationery for the children in The Haven and also things that our elderly has expressed a wish for, such as clothing or a new wheelchair.

Elderly Service

Mid-Autumn Festival

The most recent Mid-Autumn festival was held on 5th October 2009.The event includes 'karaoke singing' sessions, distribution of moon cakes and most importantly interaction among the elderly and the volunteers. The essence of this festival is to remind the elderly that they are not alone and there is always something in their lives to look forward to.

Chinese New Year Dinner

The CNY annual dinner will be held in the Red Star Restaurant, which is located at Block 54, Chin Swee Road due to the popular demand from the elderly and its strategic location. Red packets and goodie bags which our Hall Master, Resident Fellow and sponsors have generously sponsored are given away to the elderly during the dinner. Besides creating an opportunity where the volunteers and elderly can celebrate the festival together, this event also serves to thank the Hall Master, Resident Fellow and sponsors for their strong support towards EVC all year round.

Salvation Army

Post-exam Party

EVC's Salvation Army marked the end of another chapter of our annual voluntary work by organizing a post exam party for all the children in the Haven sometime in November(after their exam) every year. While the main aim of the party is fun and interaction, it is also meant to reward the children for their hard work throughout the year.

The post-exam party comes with a scrumptious dinner comprising of Canadian pizzas, nuggets, syrup drinks, soft drinks and jelly. It was then followed by games hosted by our fellow SA members whereas the winners were awarded. Besides, we also distributed gifts to the children as remembrance. Lastly, we would also like to express our sincerest gratitude to the Eusoffians for donating soft toys to the Haven.

The Arts and Social Sciences Canteen sponsors us with the packed food that we send to the elderly each Saturday. The food stalls which have generously supported EVC-ES are:
1) Yong Tau Fu
2) Chinese Cooked Food
3) Japanese Cuisine
4) Snacks
5) Claypot
6) Western
7) Noodles
8) SiChuan
9) Vegetarian
10) Muslim
11) Fresh Fruits
12) Drinks

Other sponsor: Bengawan Solo