Last Updated on 2019-05-14 , 4:03 pm
There are two types of people in the world.
Those who brag about the good things they did in their entire life on Facebook (“I just bought a meal for an old lady!”), and those who do good things for the sake of doing it.
Most of us do it for the former. Yes, even my big fat boss who send me home because he wanted other people in the office to see him doing it.
P.S. He let me off at the bus stop near the office building, of course. It’ll be so much faster if I’ve just walked there.
But not this man.
Oh, no. This Singaporean man, Mr Monteiro Azhar, has been doing it quietly for two years.
And obviously, we had to approach him to tell us his story, or no one would ever know.
Brought Photo Booths & Cotton Candy To Foreign Workers in Keppel Shipyard
Foreign workers are an underappreciated group in Singapore. They build our homes, our ships, keep our country clean and more.
But they don’t get any appreciation for what they’ve done.
People say, “They’re earning SGD, isn’t that enough? After suffering here for a couple of years, they’ll go home and enjoy a better life.”
For Monteiro, it’s not enough.
Which was why for these two years, he bought fun stuff like photobooths into Keppel Shipyard for the foreign workers.
While it might not sound like much, the foreign workers have a chance to take candid photos with their friends in Singapore and send them back home to their family.
They also got to enjoy Uncle Ringo level cotton candy and popcorn as well.
His reason for doing so? To give back to society.
Giving back to society can be fun.
So this begs the question: why do this? Especially in your personal time, when you could simply spend one minute to Instagram your good deeds and one month to watch Netflix?
This is something that everyone asked, and here’s what he said: It wasn’t just about giving back to society. He finds it fun and enjoyable to plan such events for the needy as well.
Plus, it gives his life some meaning. If not, living your life day to day, going through the same routine, isn’t that worse?
U Heart: Giving you the means to give back to society
Everybody wants to give back to society. The person reading this article, your mom and maybe even your little brother.
But wanting to do it and being able to do it is two completely different matters. After all, even if you’ve got the heart and time, sometimes you need a bit of money. Even transport needs money, right?
With the Young NTUC U Heart initiative, anything is possible.
During the U Heart period, a $1,000 funding will be given for projects that cater to one of the five categories of beneficiaries:
And if you notice this nifty easter egg: Home, Environment, Appreciate, Respect, Tenacity. Yup, the first letters spells heart.
Youths are also encouraged to organise skills-based volunteering for the beneficiaries, like giving financial literacy workshops for low-income children, repair works for rental units, etc.
As long as you’re below 35 years old, you can apply to volunteer with the U Heart initiative.
So, what’s Young NTUC doing for the U Heart initiative other than providing funds for Monteiro-Azhar-wannabe to help individuals with lower income?
We took a trip down to a pop-up supermarket organized by them (and by the way, that’s where we found Monteiro, who was of course volunteering for the event).
Pasar Fiesta: A Pop-Up Supermarket
Young NTUC has partnered up with Yio Chu Kang grassroots volunteers and they’ve managed to raise more than $80,000 for 1,700 underprivileged families and seniors in the Yio Chu Kang estate.
On 1 Dec, they’ve set up pop-up supermarkets, Pasar Fiesta, around the estate, to help the underprivileged residents in Yio Chu Kang offset their monthly expenditure.
Each person would be given a trolley so that they can shop for what they want at five different distribution areas, including a tin of milo, different canned food like Tulip luncheon meat and more.
A volunteer, Mr Leon Chua, said that he is in it because he wants to help fellow Singaporeans.
He hopes to see more Singaporeans step forward and lend their support to the needy as well.
So, want to contribute back to society but didn’t have the funds to do so? Submit your proposal to the Young NTUC U Heart!
This article was first published on goodyfeed.com and written in collaboration with Young NTUC.
