Speech by President Halimah Yacob at Heartware Network Service Carnival

Associate Professor Ho Peng Kee, Advisor, Heartware Network

Mr Bill Foo, Chairman, Heartware Network

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

I am happy to join you this afternoon to recognise the contributions of our volunteers to the community.

Volunteers are the lifeblood of our social service organisations. Among them, an important group is the youths, who are energetic, capable and creative. Many of them care about the community and want to contribute to the common good.

I am therefore happy that Heartware Network has set up an academy to nurture youth champions for our community. The training and development opportunities by the Heartware Academy will equip youths with the skill sets to identify community issues and rally their peers to address them. In doing so, our youths can step up and strengthen the culture of care in Singapore.

One young Heartware volunteer who has benefited from the academy is Nurliyana. Despite coming from a humble background, Nurliyana has committed herself to various Heartware programmes over the past few years. For example, Nurliyana served as a volunteer usher at the National Day Parade 2017. This year, she assumed a leadership role, becoming a Tutor Leader with Heartware Tuition Programme in Boon Lay Gardens Primary School.

Heartware’s support for Nurliyana exemplifies its contribution to youth volunteerism, through a volunteer development pathway. This pathway, co-created by Heartware and its partners; ranges from creating volunteering opportunities, to supporting educational aspirations, to identifying job placements.

To recognise youth champions beyond academic grades, and affirm their volunteer contributions, Heartware and its partner, Acclaim Insurance Brokers have set up a S$1 million Acclaim Endowment Study Fund. This Fund will be disbursed over the next five years, to support active youth volunteers like Nurliyana through their tertiary education.

I hope that more corporates will contribute to worthy causes and nurture the next generation of leaders, who will in turn contribute back to society. It is also important for us to manage the volunteers’ experience well, and ensure that their time and effort is spent meaningfully. The government will also continue to partner social service organisations, corporates and other community partners to identify and grow volunteer opportunities that better utilize the skills of volunteers and meet the needs of the community.

By having an effective volunteer management system, organisations can also understand and better cater to the entire volunteer journey, for example equipping volunteers with the necessary knowledge and skills, looking after their learning needs, enabling committed volunteers to lead or initiate their own projects, and recognizing and appreciating volunteers for their efforts. This will help organisations to attract and retain the right volunteers to create greater impact for their beneficiaries. Heartware Network has a structured volunteer management process using a management portal, Youthbank. Leveraging on Youthbank, they track the progress of each volunteer across time to better understand their contributions to community and personal development through service. As individuals, groups or corporates, we can each play our part to make the volunteering experience a positive one, and build a better Singapore.

Today’s event is a celebration of volunteerism. I would like to take this opportunity to encourage each and every volunteer, both the young and the young-at-heart, to continue giving your time, talent and resources in support of our local communities. Volunteering enables us to learn new skills, develops our sense of empathy, and brings us joy and satisfaction. By helping one another, we grow the spirit of SG Cares.  And together we build a more caring, compassionate and inclusive Singapore.

Thank you.