A chance encounter last month with a man sleeping in Tiong Bahru made two students step up and help the vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Harrison Chong and Sricharan Balasubramanian were taken aback when they asked the man how the coronavirus had impacted his life. His answer was that it did not matter whether or not he wore a mask because he did not care if he died.
That was when the Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) students started a ground-up initiative, called Comm.UnitySG, and roped in other students to help.
The 40 students spent up to eight hours a day during the school holidays cleaning and repainting Housing Board rental flats in the central and north-eastern parts of Singapore. They had contacted Jalan Besar GRC MP Lily Neo and were referred to collaborate with New Hope Community Services, a charity for the homeless.
The students also helped distribute meals to the charity’s beneficiaries.
In total, they cleaned 37 flats and repainted the doors and gates of two units.
Besides cleaning up homes and delivering food, Comm.UnitySG has also come up with several creative ways to raise more than $25,700 on approved digital platform Giving.sg for New Hope Community Services.
During the circuit breaker, they organised an online gaming tournament where all participating fees collected – $10 per person – were donated to the charity.
The volunteers also persuaded their friends who are online vendors, as well as other businesses, to donate a percentage of their business profits – ranging from 20% to 80% – to the charity. These donors include home-grown artist Aiman Azhar, and online clothing stores Sanctrie and megan&laura.
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Source: The Straits Times, 8 June 2020