Working with the Elderly

Possible Areas of Collaboration

• Food Collection Drive and Distribution

• Home Visits

• Home Cleaning

• Joint Concerts: The Youth and The Senior

• Festival Celebrations (Chinese New Year, Hari Raya Puasa, Deepavali, Christmas)

• Befriending

• Wish List Drives

• Charity Drives

• Painting of One-Room Flats

• Dialect Lessons with the Elderly

• Mentorship Programme: One Elderly to One Youth

• Senior Citizens Idol

• Assisting at Childcare Centers Run by the Elderly

• Developing Community Spaces

• Senior Safety Programmes

• Connecting Lives Through Stories: Interview with the Elderly

• Skits: Crime against the Elderly

Partnering Organisations

Past Projects Ideas

Bright Homes Programme (Since 2004 until present)

Bright Homes is a collaboration with Central CDC where bi-monthly (from April to February) about 25 students from the Interact Club will visit a selected Senior Activities Centre (e.g. Redhill, Sin Ming, Toa Payoh Blk 62B) and design and run a variety of activities (e.g. movie screenings, farm visits, bus rides to view Christmas light-up, fall prevention, talks, courses and workshops on using the Internet, and even spa treatments, festival celebrations, quarterly birthday celebrations and home cleaning) to befriend and brighten up the elderly residents’ lives, especially those living in one room rental flats.

Student Reflections

According to Goh Hao Wee (CT 1406), “With the activities planned for the elderly residents, we saw many more smiles than we had ever seen. We befriended the elderly so that they will not feel isolated or abandoned, and in turn will possess a healthy mind and body as they age.”

Ang Kay Li (CT 1410) also states, “We were able to pick up tips to communicate more effectively with the elderly. We learnt to communicate more effectively in various dialects, learnt to be sensitive to the needs of the elderly and understand the importance of our heritage. Also, since some of us seldom interact with the elderly in our society, this was a rare opportunity to learn lessons in humility, dignity and respect.

Joey Tan (Handball, CCA), “It was super heart-warming as they looked interested and contented after trying out and knowing more about handball. My duties were rather simple as my job was to explain how the ‘Scratch Art’ works and also to distribute the template, pencils and the papers to the interested participants. However, it was really fun and meaningful to be able to interact with the elderly residents. Being able to speak dialect, I was able to converse with majority of the elderly and I got to know more about them like their daily routine and life. It was definitely a rare opportunity to be able to interact, teach as well as to learn more about the elderly residents.”