Lend A Helping Hand @ Willing Hearts

3rd December 2015

To some, charity involves an insurmountable tasks and lending a helping hand to the needy seems impractical and not doable. Believe it or not, the perfect opportunity cannot come at a more opportune time and 25 volunteers from Setsco seized it and partake in our most meaningful social activities… helping to prepare food to be distributed to the elderly, disabled or simply those who find it hard to make ends meet at Willing Hearts Soup Kitchen.

Arriving in the wee hours of Saturday morning on 14 of November, we were greeted by an overwhelming mountain of vegetables waiting to be prepared for cooking. As first-time volunteers in the soup kitchen, we were surprised by the scale of the operation and the amount of food that needed to be readied and cooked. We could hear the sharp clinking sound of utensils and the waft of cooking aroma coming from the kitchen around the work station.

Alongside other volunteers ranging from retirees, expats with their kids, teachers with their students and other office workers, we too, were assigned to respective work stations to start on the tasks for the day. We began to prepare the food ingredients by washing and cutting a variety of vegetables into small bite-sizes, frying, cleaning the workstations, packing the meals, dicing and slicing meat products.

Recounting his experience, Tay Wei Liang from Finance Department said, "There are very few times when hours of physical hard work had managed to give me so much satisfaction. It is definitely worth it."

Mr Zaidee Bakee, Assistant Divisional Director, Corporate Development Technology Division added, "The atmosphere and feeling of volunteerism are at its peak in the midst of all these volunteers who take the pain to get up early on Saturday morning to take part in this wonderful endeavour. I feel blessed to be given this opportunity to be part of this meaningful deed."

At the end of the day, not only did the volunteers go home with a rewarding and fulfilling experience, they also enjoyed the true sense of volunteering and felt like they had done an honest day’s work that matters a great deal to someone out there. Working in the soup kitchen truly signifies a labour of love.