7 interesting volunteering opportunities at Youth Corps Singapore’s Do Good Fest 2022

Youth Corps Singapore’s Do Good Fest is happening from October to December, providing around 3,000 volunteering opportunities for youths to serve the community. 

The second run of the Do Good Fest, which is part of the Forward Singapore exercise, includes activities with children, seniors, and those living with special needs. Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong said on Oct 1 that these volunteering opportunities will allow youths to “give back to society”. 

Here are seven interesting volunteering events from the Do Good Fest you can be a part of.

Love interacting with children? Coding Games for Kids could be just the event for you. 

As a facilitator, you will be able to make learning fun for children by engaging them through interactive online coding game codeSpark.

The befriending session will be conducted through Zoom over four weeks from Nov 19 to Dec 15 on every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, from 9am to 12pm.

Volunteers can befriend children in person through A Walk around Little India on Dec 9 and 16. 

Selected participants will get to either guide children through the heritage centre or role-play featured characters.

A compulsory training session will be held on Dec 2 from 10am to 4.30pm.

The two runs of the event will take place at the Indian Heritage Centre at 5 Campbell Lane from 9am to 4.30pm.

First launched in 2019, Programme X is a partnership between Youth Corps Singapore and Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) to promote volunteerism.

Programme X consists of two components, starting with a three-day hybrid community service leadership program called Mission X to expose student volunteers to workshops on planning community service projects.

The second component of Programme X consists of post-camp engagement by Youth Corps Singapore to support student leaders in enhancing existing community service initiatives or piloting new ones. 

Only university students are eligible to register for the Mission X Uni Run, which will take place from Dec 9 to 11. Registration for the event will be closed a month earlier on Nov 9.

For those looking for a more long-term opportunity, YOLDEN is a regular elderly befriending programme that caters to the physical, intellectual and social-emotional wellness of the residents in Nursing Homes.

With weekly sessions running from Oct 8 to Nov 26, volunteers can take part in a series of activities with the seniors through an online Zoom session, which includes befriending them, conducting simple physiotherapy activities for them and interacting with them during short breaks.

Through the YOLDEN programme, Youth Corps Singapore aims to build intergenerational bonds among youth and seniors through shared experiences.

Each session lasts from 9am to 12.30pm at The Red Box at 113 Somerset Road.

Help seniors keep up with the digital times and improve their well-being by teaching them to use Lions Befrienders’ IM-OK tablet at the IM-OK @ Tampines volunteering session. 

These devices contain a function for the seniors to check-in daily to monitor their wellbeing, and contain additional digital literacy related features such as cybersecurity tips and a scam simulation app. 

Each pair of volunteers will partner seniors through four engagement sessions and teach them to use the IM-OK tablet and its functions, such as customising their health alerts, video calling or uploading photos and videos.

The four engagement sessions will run on Nov 12 and 26, Dec 10 and 17 from 9am to 1pm at the seniors’ houses in Tampines.

The specific locations will only be revealed when participants attend a compulsory Physical Orientation and Training session held on Nov 5 from 9am to 1pm at Lions Befrienders’ Training Centre, Blk 163 Stirling Road #01-1220.

Youth Corps Singapore will host the fourth edition of their Phasing It series on Oct 29.

Phasing It is a conversation series first established in 2019 as an avenue for youths to share their views on how they can get through different challenges together.

Previous Phasing It sessions covered mental health in the age of social media and expectations imposed on youths from both internal and external factors.

Phasing It 4.0 Next Station: Unknown seeks to help youths transition through various phases of their lives more smoothly by encouraging discussion about the different feelings they have.

Volunteers are required to be open to sharing their own experiences as discussion takes up a significant part of the session.

The event will be held at The Red Box at 113 Somerset Road from 2pm to 5pm.

Youth Corps Special Needs Cluster is organising the Four to Jalan Jalan event this November. 

First organised from 2018 to 2019, the Jalan Jalan series creates a platform for youths and people with special needs to interact and forge friendships with each other, and builds awareness among youths on people with special needs.

The Four to Jalan Jalan series will engage clients from the Muscular Dystrophy Association Singapore (MDAS) and youths will get the opportunity to go for outings with them.

Volunteers must commit to three mandatory sessions. One Training session will take place on Oct 22, along with two separate outings at Gardens by the Bay on Nov 5 and Labrador Park on Nov 19.

For more content about Forward SG and how youths can participate, click here.