More seniors stepping up as volunteers

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On the International Day of Older Persons on Friday (Oct 1), The Straits Times looks at volunteers who are senior citizens and how they contribute to society.

SINGAPORE - More seniors are stepping up to help others, including other seniors.

Three organisations The Straits Times spoke to said they have been seeing an increasing number of senior volunteers over the years.

At Methodist Welfare Services (MWS), about 40 per cent of its regular volunteers - or about 500 volunteers - are aged 55 and older, and most of them volunteer as befrienders who reach out to vulnerable and socially isolated seniors.

Ms Yap Lee Lee, senior director of communications and engagement at the social service agency, said there were 115 new senior volunteers in 2019, 50 in 2018 and 43 in 2017.

She said that from 2014 to 2017, MWS opened six senior activity centres. This corresponded with the rise in senior volunteers as more of its members became volunteers. It has also seen many retirees looking to give back to the community.

A spokesman for RSVP Singapore said it had 2,500 volunteers last year, and had been seeing a 10 per cent growth in volunteer numbers per year.

About 90 per cent of its volunteers are aged 50 and above.

And at Lions Befrienders, the number of volunteers aged 60 and above has grown from 148 in 2017 to 239 this year.

There has been some room for growth - a local survey done in 2018 found that the proportion of senior volunteers was smaller than those of other age groups.

According to the Individual Giving Study 2018 - Silver V Study by the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre, 15 per cent of respondents aged 65 and above indicated in 2018 that they volunteered at least once in the past year.

The proportion was 19 per cent in 2016 and 9 per cent in 2014, and was the lowest out of all age groups across the biennial studies done since 2010.

However, the study also found that senior volunteers are more committed. The average volunteer hours per year for those 65 and above was 224 hours, compared with 88 hours for all age groups.

The study added that seniors are an untapped potential for society, but that they doubt their own ability to help and cite a lack of time due to family commitments and health as top barriers to volunteering.

Organisations have been adapting to such concerns.

A spokesman for Lions Befrienders said: "We have put in place initiatives and curated volunteer roles to harness senior volunteers' wealth of experience and skills."

She said volunteers aged 60 and above make home visits, do phone check-ins and assist with activities at senior activity centres.

At MWS, the oldest volunteer is Mrs June Cheong, 92, who has been caring for the elderly for 40 years and has no plans to stop.

The former counsellor, who began volunteering in 1981 after she retired, is part of an informal volunteer group called the Sunshine Group, which she and a few of her friends started in 1981 - with the aim, she said, of bringing sunshine into the lives of seniors living in nursing homes.

The group would visit the seniors at the MWS Bethany Nursing Home in Choa Chu Kang once a week and make music with them, using instruments like the tambourine and piano, among other activities.

But Covid-19 regulations amid the pandemic have meant that the group has not been able to do in-person visits in the past year.

However, it continues to "show love" by delivering food like dim sum and snacks occasionally, said Mrs Cheong, whose 92-year-old husband is also part of the group.

She said: "My Christian faith and a desire to serve and help kept me going all these years. I also find a lot of joy in befriending these elderly people and spending time with them."

MWS' Ms Yap said seniors often better understand the needs of other seniors owing to similar life stages and wealth of experience.

She said: "Through time, we hope this approach of a senior reaching out or helping another senior will lead to wider community activation and catalyse a positive change of mindset towards ageing."

To encourage more volunteers to join them, including senior volunteers, MWS has launched a time-banking rewards programme, the first of its kind offered by a charity in Singapore.

The programme allows volunteers to bank volunteering hours and redeem them for MWS services and merchandise or commercial products or services sponsored by partners such as Amore Fitness, Domino's Pizza and FairPrice.

 

Source: The Straits Times © Singapore Press Holdings Limited. Reproduced with permission.

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