Friends of Community Care Awards

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Boon Keng Road Fish Head Bee Hoon

Boon Keng Road Fish Head Bee Hoon located at Bedok is run by owner Mr Low Boon Chuan. Besides his full-time role as a hawker, Mr Low volunteers with Thye Hua Kwan Moral Charities (THKMC) as a delivery driver for their ad hoc events. He also frequently sponsors necessities for the seniors, such as beds, cabinets, and other household items.

​To ensure needy seniors get to enjoy nutritious fresh meals regularly, Mr Low has been sponsoring fish porridge for seniors in nursing homes since 2017. When Mr Low started volunteering with THKMC in 2020, he extended his fish porridge treats to seniors attending THKMC’s 12 Seniors Activity Centres (SACs), providing 1,000 packets of fish porridge a month to these centres. Inspired by his charitable deeds, Mr Low’s friends joined him in sponsoring and delivering freshly prepared fish porridge as monthly treats for vulnerable seniors. Mr Low even leveraged social media like Instagram and Facebook to match ready sponsors with the various nursing homes and SACs. Since January 2021, Mr Low has provided over 8,000 packets of fish porridge to benefit thousands of seniors islandwide.

DancingMind Pte Ltd

DancingMind (DM) is a digital health platform that utilises virtual reality (VR) to create effective therapy for patients with Stroke, Dementia, Parkinson’s Disease, and Children with Special Needs. Since 2019, DM has been working with Thye Hua Kwan Nursing Home (THKNH) to incorporate digital virtual reality therapy for their residents, aimed at improving patients’ therapy and recovery journey. DM’s staff also volunteer their expertise and time with THKNH, working with their staff to conduct VR therapy activities for the residents. Working closely with the nursing home’s therapy team, DM helped conduct surveys to gather data needed to evaluate the effectiveness and success of the VR therapy programme, and which in turn helped enhance their current programme.

Compared to readings taken pre-therapy, it was found that the mood and energy levels of residents improved after the VR therapy sessions. Overall, mood levels improved by 36% while energy levels improved by 35%. A spin-off digital VR initiative that focused on dementia residents at THKNH also found that 93% of residents who participated had a positive experience. To ensure long-term sustainability of the programme and that the VR therapy was integrated into the nursing home, DM took time to train THKNH’s staff, and conducted refresher sessions whenever it was needed. DM also volunteered occupational therapy services to assist THKNH’s rehabilitation team.

The growth and service transformation has not just positively impacted THKNH patients, but DM's other hospital and direct patients between the ages of 4 and 106, across Singapore, the UK, and USA.

Gurame Indonesian Restaurant Pte Ltd

​Gurame Indonesian Restaurant (GIR) is a F&B restaurant that serves halal Indonesian cuisine. During Circuit Breaker in 2020, GIR collaborated with Thye Hua Kwan Moral Charities to provide relief and support for affected families affected by COVID-19. Within nine hours upon activation, GIR quickly mobilised its resources to supply halal meals twice daily islandwide. Keeping up its commitment to ensure those who needed meal assistance would not go hungry, GIR voluntarily put in five additional operating hours, starting as early as 4am instead of the usual 9am, to ensure timely preparation and delivery of meals. GIR further went beyond its commitment to also provide meals for seniors and families serving Quarantine Orders. From April to June 2020, GIR provided a total of 60,000 additional meals for seniors in the community who had difficulties accessing meals due to the circuit breaker.

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Lien Foundation

Philanthropic organisation Lien Foundation (LF) was quick to respond to the needs on the ground when COVID-19 struck. In April 2020, LF started the Charitable Organisations Vital In Downturn (COVID) Fund which was divided into two tranches for its partners. Tranche 1, totalling $1.2 million, is unconditional and can be used to meet any need as deemed fit by the charities as they deal with the health and economic fallout of the crisis. They could, for instance, use these funds to cover the unfunded portion of key programmes, fortify flagging incomes, meet urgent manpower needs or improve safety and welfare of clients and colleagues. Eighteen charities, including The Salvation Army Peacehaven Nursing Home and AWWA, received support to help them through the challenging times. Tranche 2, by application, was meant for longer-term needs such as seeding new programmes and test-bedding solutions to meet changing needs. The Foundation disbursed a further $2.08 million to fund 19 proposals.

One supported organisation was The Salvation Army Peacehaven Nursing Home. The nursing home organised meals and snacks for 340 seniors when family visits were not allowed. A playroom was created at each level that served about 90 residents, allowing seniors to enjoy physical and cognitive activities. The nursing home also carried out retrofitting of the dining and multipurpose halls to create a liveable space for their employees.

Another organisation receiving support from the COVID Fund was AWWA, benefitting its elderly and early childhood clients as well as their staff. As part of Tranche 2 support, LF funded the hardware and software solutions to aid AWWA in rolling out virtual social intervention for its clients.

LF’s support fund has enabled both The Salvation Army Peacehaven Nursing Home and AWWA to devise ways to mitigate the negative impact of COVID-19 restrictions on their residents and staff, allowing them to improve the physical, mental and emotional well-being of vulnerable seniors in the community.

PAP Community Foundation

Since 2017, AIC has been partnering PCF Sparkletots to foster regular intergenerational activities between the preschools and Community Care clients. In February 2021, AIC and PCF Sparkletots renewed their commitment for another three years. As COVID-19 restrictions were gradually lifted, the PCF Sparkletots and Community Care organisations re-started non-physical and virtual intergenerational activities such as exchanging videos, care packs and festive greetings.

As of June 2021, 131 PCF Sparkletots have been matched with 34 Community Care organisations. To ensure frequent activities for the seniors and enable more pre-schoolers to participate, two to four preschools were matched to one Community Care organisation. Over a period of 12 months, each pre-school will have at least two to four intergenerational activities lasting up to an hour with the assigned Community Care organisation. Already, some pre-schools have increased their frequency from quarterly to monthly activities with their assigned organisation.

Activities by PCF Sparkletots have brought much joy to the seniors, keeping them socially engaged during the pandemic when the various restrictions have resulted in greatly reduced activity level. Many Community Care organisations including Bright Hill Evergreen Home and Grace Lodge gave positive feedback that the programme has created a meaningful channel for pre-schoolers to engage our seniors, build bonds and reinvigorate the elders with a sense of purpose.

Reach Out

​Founded in 2019 by Ms Grace Chuah Siew Har, Reach Out 心手相连is a grounds-up initiative, an informal volunteer platform that brings together like-minded people who wish to reach out to the underprivileged. Reach Out comprises around 50 committed volunteers and some ad-hoc volunteers. Volunteers walk the grounds monthly to search for light bulbs that are burnt out or faulty, replacing them with new bulbs. They also follow up with relevant government agencies regarding pressing structural, functional and maintenance issues affecting these residents.

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​Under their One Man’s Trash Is Another Man’s Treasure programme, Reach Out works closely with real estate agents to collect functional, pre-loved furniture and appliances, giving them a new lease of life in the modest homes of rental flat residents. In addition, Reach Out carries out 1-for-1 pillow exchange for residents in rental flats each month. Overused, soiled pillows are exchanged with brand new pillows.

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​Reach Out also distributes fresh ingredients and groceries to needy residents in the community under their Blessing Bowl programme. Under their Sharing Loaf programme, volunteers collect unsold bakery products at the end of each day, distributing them to over 18 nursing homes, Senior Activity Centres as well as residents in rental flats right after the collections. Before festivities, they collaborate with a team of hairstylists to provide seniors residing in rental flats with free haircuts. In July 2020, Reach Out started a Soup On Wheels Programme and has since donated over 750 sets of soups and bento sets to public rental flat tenants.​

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Health Promotion Board

In January 2021, Health Promotion Board (HPB) progressively deployed six Mobile Vaccination Teams (MVTs) comprising 50 doctors, nurses and administrative staff to support the national COVID-19 vaccination efforts to reach out to vulnerable seniors who might find it challenging to visit a vaccination site in person due to mobility issues.

Working closely with the relevant government agencies, HPB organised and planned the exercise with nursing homes and eldercare centres to bring vaccination on-site at these places. These included setting clinical standards and developing operating procedures to ensure safe vaccination for residents and staff of these locations, which were adopted as the standard protocols for commercial medical service providers when the vaccination programme was scaled up. Within three months, the teams completed over 300 deployments covering more than 100 locations across Singapore.

​HPB expanded the MVT efforts and set up Home Vaccination Teams (HVTs) to provide COVID-19 vaccination for the homebound individuals. HPB has been instrumental in rolling out COVID-19 vaccination across Community Care organisations speedily.

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ACI Singapore – The Financial Markets Association

ACI Singapore – The Financial Markets Association (ACI Singapore) is the leading industry representative for Financial Markets Professionals in Singapore.

ACI Singapore has been raising funds for the less fortunate in the society through their annual ACI Singapore charity fundraising event. This charity drive is now well recognised as a fixture in their annual calendar in the Financial Markets, and is widely and actively supported by their members, the dealing fraternity and financial institutions. St. Andrew's Mission Hospital (SAMH) and the Singapore Anglican Community Services (SACS) have been beneficiaries of ACI Singapore’s annual charity golf and dinner since 2005 and 2019 respectively.

The services of SAMH and SACS, which benefited from the strong support of the annual ACI Singapore Charity Golf and Dinner, include St. Andrew's Community Hospital (SACH), St. Andrew's Autism Centre (SAAC) and St. Andrew's Nursing Home (SANH) (Taman Jurong) (operated by SACS).

In addition, members of ACI Singapore also started their befriending activities at SANH (Taman Jurong) in 2019. Allocated proceeds from the ACI Singapore Charity Golf and Dinner went towards strengthening and developing care services of St. Andrew's Community Hospital (SACH) and SANH (Taman Jurong), as well as the setting up of a medical clinic at the SAAC.

In all, ACI Singapore Charity Golf and Dinner contributed around $3.5 million towards the work of SAMH and SACS.

The generous donations from ACI Singapore have helped SACH to step up their care programmes and enhanced their care capabilities to meet the complex healthcare needs of the seniors. Through the contributions of ACI Singapore, SACH managed to set up a Patients Support Fund, which provides assistance to patients with financial constraints. Contributions from ACI Singapore also went towards supporting the Medical Outreach to the Community Programme – a volunteer-led free primary care and health education initiative, which reached out to low income communities in the heartlands and blue-collared workers living in dormitories.

ACI Singapore's latest contribution was to SANH (Taman Jurong). This nursing home provides long-term residential care to persons, particularly the elderly requiring long-term nursing care, persons living with dementia and persons with stable psychiatric illness. This is the first such nursing home in Singapore with a hybrid service. In addition to providing financial support towards the work of SANH (Taman Jurong), its members also organised befriending activities for the residents.

City Developments Limited

City Developments Limited (CDL) has been a faithful supporter of Assisi Hospice since as early as 1999, and the co-organiser of Assisi Hospice’s signature fundraising event "Assisi Fun Day" which raised more than S$1 million last year. Out of the total amount, more than 25% of the proceeds were raised by CDL. The mega fair, with over 100 stalls, is a community event put together by volunteers from all walks of life, including corporate organisations, church groups, schools and family-run businesses, attracting around 10,000 visitors.

As co-organiser, CDL is actively involved in the event planning process and rallies the support of its subsidiaries including Millennium Hotels and Resorts (MHR), which contributes its signature food items for sale as well as attractive hotel stays as prizes for the charity lucky draw. CBM Pte. Ltd., another co-organiser of the event, provides manpower and expertise for areas such as logistics, cleaning and security. Additionally, CDL employees also volunteer their time at the carnival, running stalls to raise funds for the patients of Assisi Hospice. Apart from Assisi Fun Day, CDL is also an avid supporter of its various fundraising initiatives, such as the annual gala dinner and other ad-hoc initiatives.

Beyond supporting Assisi Hospice’s key fund-raising initiatives, CDL has been engaging Assisi Hospice’s residents over the years by organising activities during special occasions such as Mid-Autumn Festival and Christmas.

Lien Foundation

​The Lien Foundation is a Singapore-based philanthropic house guided by a ‘radical’ approach to tackle problems at its roots. It views innovation as a permanent state of exploration, and embeds design into its work in early childhood development, eldercare and end-of-life issues.

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​Lien Foundation has been a strong advocate in supporting the dementia community. It championed the physical and care design of an eldercare facility, Jade Circle, to promote the autonomy, choices, privacy and dignity of persons with dementia with The Salvation Army Peacehaven Nursing Home, and strengthened the psychosocial capabilities and programming at Apex Harmony Lodge. The Foundation started the “Forget Us Not” initiative in partnership with Khoo Teck Puat Hospital and the Alzheimer’s Disease Association (ADA) to foster dementia-friendly communities.

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​More recently, it released Hack Care, a publication that showcased Do-It-Youself (DIY) hacks to create dementia-friendly homes. With ADA, the Foundation launched the Post Diagnostic Support programme to proactively equip and strengthen the support and services for those who are newly diagnosed with dementia from Khoo Teck Puat and Tan Tock Seng hospitals.

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​The Foundation works with a range of partners to run the Gym Tonic strength training programme for seniors, and is supporting an upcoming AWWA initiative to redesign centre-based dementia care.

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​In the area of early childhood development, the Foundation has partnered organisations to spearhead initiatives that can better support children from low income backgrounds and those with special needs. These include Circle of Care with Care Corner, the Early Childhood Holistic Outcomes (ECHO) framework with KKH and Thye Hua Kwan Moral Charities, and Making Every Preschool Inclusive (MEPI) with Rainbow Centre. Lien Foundation also partnered AWWA to realise Singapore’s first inclusive preschool, Kindle Garden, and is supporting the organisation’s inclusion aspirations to uplift capabilities of educators in the primary school sector.

Shinnyo-en Singapore

​Volunteers from Shinnyo-en Singapore have been partnering Ren Ci Hospital since 2000. They first volunteered at Ren Ci’s first nursing home at Moulmein. As Ren Ci closed the Moulmein branch and started Ren Ci @ Bukit Batok and Ren Ci @ Ang Mo Kio, the Shinnyo-en Singapore volunteers subsequently made arrangements to visit both nursing homes on a monthly basis, to organise activities and befriend the residents. Activities include karaoke, arts and crafts, games and festive celebrations.

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​Over the years, the volunteers have formed meaningful friendships with the residents. Even though a number of their volunteers are Japanese and do not speak local dialects, their dedication and sincerity to serve, can be felt through their gestures and expressions. The local volunteers speak various dialects and interact well with the senior residents.

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​Besides their own organised activities, Shinnyo-en Singapore volunteers are also ever ready to respond to calls for assistance in other areas. For example, they also lend support to outings that are organised by Ren Ci Hospital or other Ren Ci volunteer groups. In recent years, the volunteers have also become involved in organising outings to the neighbourhood for the residents of Ren Ci @ Ang Mo Kio. To date, they have visited Ang Mo Kio Hub, the market and Bishan Park. These outings mean a lot to Ren Ci’s nursing home residents.

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​In addition to the monthly visits, the volunteers also support Ren Ci’s medical social workers for ad-hoc house cleaning activities. They ensure that the Ren Ci Community Hospital patients planning for discharge, have a safe and clean home to return to, in a bid to prevent further illness that may lead to re-admissions to hospitals.

Singapore Exchange Limited

​Launched in 2004, SGX Bull Charge, the flagship charity initiative of Singapore Exchange (SGX), has been rallying the financial community and listed companies to support the needs of underprivileged children and families, persons with disabilities, as well as the elderly.

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​SGX Bull Charge has been raising funds for its adopted charities such as AWWA Ltd. through its annual programme including three anchor events – Charity Golf, Charity Futsal and Charity Run. These fundraising initiatives have enabled them to raise $39 million over the years for more than least 50 charities, empowering their beneficiaries to lead a more positive and meaningful life.

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​SGX Bull Charge has been partnering AWWA for the past 10 years to support the multi-service agency’s efforts to empower persons across different life stages and demographics. The funds raised have made a positive impact on the lives of many through efforts such as transport subsidies for children with additional needs, support for after-school care service for youths with additional needs, as well as AWWA’s Family Services. With this partnership, AWWA can continue to provide high-quality programmes.

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​This year, SGX is driving new ways to raise funds for its beneficiaries while doing its part to ensure the well-being of participants. The 17th edition of the SGX Bull Charge Charity Run will go virtual from 30 October to 13 November. For the first time, international runners have signed up to join local participants as they go the extra mile together. The event will kick off with a virtual 3km Chief Challenge involving CEOs and chiefs of companies, while participants in the Mass Run will each run at their own pace and space. The Charity Run aims of achieving a collective distance of 100,000 km, with SGX matching contributions dollar for dollar up to $1 million and donating a further $5 for every kilometre completed.

Singapore Soka Association

​Singapore Soka Association (SSA) has been a close partner of Dover Park Hospice since 2005 with volunteers from the Soka Volunteers Group (SVG) supporting their cause through various volunteering activities. SVG volunteers underwent training by the Hospice staff, to prepare them to care for terminally-ill patients. The SVG members would visit the Hospice on two Sundays per month, to prepare and serve the patients tea time snacks. The SVG members also go into the wards to befriend the patients, and interact with them through songs, lifting their spirits and bringing joy to them. During events (like Roadshows and Open House), this group of volunteers also help out in a variety of duties, like booth-manning.

Since 2018, SSA has also been actively involved in befriending programmes that reaches out to senior citizens at risk of social isolation in the Tampines area and amongst the SSA community.

Temasek Foundation

​Temasek Foundation (TF) supports a diverse range of programmes that uplift lives and communities in Singapore and beyond. Temasek Foundation’s programmes, made possible through philanthropic endowments gifted by Temasek, strive towards achieving positive outcomes for individuals and communities now, and for generations to come. Collectively, TF’s programmes strengthen social resilience, foster international exchange and regional capabilities, advance science, and protect the planet.

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​As part of its Stay Prepared initiative to build the resilience of Singaporeans, TF has reached out to the Community Care sector through AIC, and has supported the sector with cash and in-kind donations during COVID-19.

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​TF funded the extension of operating hours of AIC hotline to longer hours and to Sundays, so that more seniors and caregivers with questions pertaining to the Circuit Breaker or where to get assistance from, could be attended to.

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​TF also co-funded a series of ten 30-minute episodes on Mediacorp Channel 8 called “乐学每疫刻” (Learn Together with Me), which is an infotainment programme to keep seniors and caregivers informed of public education messages from the safety of their homes.

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​To support persons who may be struggling with mental wellness during the Circuit Breaker and the impact of COVID-19, TF also developed the ‘My Mental Health’ website in partnership with AIC, National CARE Hotline and the National CARE Management System. ‘My Mental Health’ complements the National CARE Hotline with mental health information and a comprehensive directory of services, online forums and support groups where users can seek support for their mental health needs.

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​For the Community Care sector, TF co-funded #ReadyTogether, an AIC initiative to support providers to enhance service continuity efforts amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This included supporting centre-based providers to have their centres cleaned, prior to reopening. TF also provided a variety of care packs to help the sector, including beds and bedding sets for some nursing homes to help their staff to move in as part of enhanced precautionary measures. Other items include hand sanitisers and disinfectants for all nursing homes and centres, pulse oximeters for nursing homes, centre-based and home care providers, oxygen concentrators for nursing homes and thermal scanners for selected community hospitals. Masks, face shields, and gowns were also made available to frontline contact staff working in the sector.

The Foodbank Singapore Ltd

​The Food Bank Singapore Ltd serves 360 member beneficiaries across various demographics: family service centres (FSCs), various types of homes, soup kitchens, other voluntary welfare organisations (VWOs), religious establishments and schools with children from low income families.

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​During the Circuit Breaker period, they extended a total of 775,000 meals, 340,000kg of food rations and 7,000 food bundles to about 15,000 beneficiaries island-wide. They have partnered with over 80 food and beverage establishments, more than 100 volunteers, and another 100 donor organisations and foundations to impact the community at-large.

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​Sree Narayana Mission (SNM) Nursing Home is one of such beneficiaries, which has received donations in-kind from Food Bank. The Food Bank has installed vending machines to make food easily accessible to beneficiaries in the heartlands and have also organised food drives for St Andrew’s Nursing Home (SANH). To encourage the public to donate their excess food, they have placed food donation boxes across the island where the public can deposit their food items.

Tote Board

Tote Board has been supporting the Community Care sector since FY2009, committing over $220 million of funding over four tranches (FY09 to FY24) through the Tote Board Community Health Fund (TBCHF).

TBCHF is a useful enabler for the sector to pilot new models of care or innovative methods to coordinate care. Such pilots allow proof-of-concept and give greater confidence to the Government and donors to consider whether they would continue to support such initiatives. Other than TBCHF, Tote Board has also supported the Community Care sector with other types of funding support.

In addition, Singapore Pools, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tote Board, was also the first organisation that extended a helping hand to AIC when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. They provided a support of $150,000 to fund initiatives that AIC set up, to help the Community Care sector. These include co-funding 10 episodes a TV series, “Learn Together with Me” that was broadcast on Mediacorp. The programme was aimed at keeping seniors informed of precautionary measures during the COVID-19 period and also included information on helping seniors to maintain and improve their physical and mental health. Singapore Pools also supported AIC’s #ReadyTogether initiative, which helps Community Care providers enhance service continuity efforts.

National Public Health Laboratory

​Since COVID-19 hit our first Community Care partner on 31 March 2020, various partners and agencies have come forward to support the homes in the Community Care sector. The National Public Health Laboratory (NPHL) at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases was among those who provided them prompt and relentless support.

NPHL ran numerous COVID-19 tests on the swabs and bloods samples for seniors and staff of the affected Community Care partners tirelessly, and at times even around the clock whenever these were needed. Being empathetic to the urgency and the impact on the residents and clients as well as the anxiety of the affected Community Care partners, NPHL was swift in carrying out the tests and informed the relevant parties promptly of the test results, regardless of the time of day and even during weekends and public holidays.

In addition to supporting the outbreak management in the affected Community Care partners, NPHL worked tirelessly with AIC and Community Care Partners to conduct surveillance testing of COVID-19 on a total of 30,000 staff and nursing home residents between April and June 2020, and more than 5,700 non-residential Community Care staff in June 2020. It journeyed with AIC every step of the way – from planning the exercises, guiding AIC on the choice of supplies and allocating laboratory testing slots, and providing professional expertise on testing matters.

NPHL also lent its supplies in times when supplies – such as test tube racks and cooler bags – were needed. This enabled the Community Care partners to complete tests earlier, which in turn enabled staff, residents and clients, and next-of-kin to have peace of mind. NPHL continues to lend its professional expertise and share resources on matters related to COVID-19 testing.

The Community Foundation of Singapore

The Community Foundation of Singapore (CFS) is a non-profit organisation founded in 2008 to encourage and enable philanthropy in Singapore. They match donors’ interest with causes and offer ways for donors to make a greater impact through their charitable funds. They also collaborate with charity partners to identify programmes that support diverse communities. CFS’ purpose is to create real and meaningful change while building a philanthropic culture in Singapore.

CFS was one of the first few partners who stepped forward and rendered their support to the Community Care sector at the onset of COVID-19. In February/March 2020, CFS approached AIC on how best to support the Community Care sector to keep seniors safe amid the current unprecedented situation. The timely and forthcoming support of CFS helped Community Care providers focus on managing the situation and safeguarding the interests and well-being of seniors.

As of September 2020, CFS has contributed donations of over $450,000 under their Sayang Sayang Fund and Mind the Gap 200 Fund to the following three initiatives AIC has set up for the Community Care sector:

• #StrongerThanBefore initiative which has supported 11 Community Care Providers.
• #StrongerTogether initiative which supports providers in appreciating Community Care workers for their tireless contributions in keeping seniors safe. Over 80 Community Care Providers have tapped on the Staff Appreciation Fund [Tranche 1] and the Staff Transport Fund, completely funded by CFS, to purchase appreciation items/activities for their staff.
• #ReadyTogether initiative which supports providers in maintaining service continuity efforts amid the COVID-19 pandemic as the evolving situation has required partners to adjust the way they work to continue caring and supporting seniors in the community. CFS’ sponsorship provided a total of 340 units of GOVTECH Self-Service Temperature Scanner to Nursing Homes, Hospices and Eldercare Centres.

[Note: The Sayang Sayang Fund is a community impact fund started by CFS to support vulnerable communities adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Mind the Gap 200 Fund is established by a group of ten donors with CFS, to alleviate social issues in four areas: community, education, healthcare and sustainability.]