The annual NSRCC Charity Golf which was postponed due to the last SARS outbreak is now scheduled on 25th and 26th October 2003, and this is your chance to help some of our less fortunate friends in the society.

Last year, we managed to attract over 800 participants and raised more than $300,000 for our beneficiaries. Despite the economic slowdown, we hope to raise a similar amount this year for the six selected beneficiaries: Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (MINDS), SAF Benevolent Fund, Singapore Red Cross Society, Sunlove Abode for Intellectually Infirmed (Sunlove Home), Sunshine Welfare Action Mission (SWAMI) and The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund.

We would like to invite you to be a part of this worthy cause and touch the lives of others. Entrance fee is $180 inclusive of green and buggy fees, dinner and a goodie bag worth $150! A gleaming Mercedes-Benz C-Class C180 Kompressor and two return Raffles Class Air Tickets to Shanghai also await the hole-in-one achievers.

So what are you waiting for? Register online now or obtain your entry forms at the Golf Reception Counter. You can also purchase Raffle Draw tickets worth $10 each at the reception counter and stand a chance to win many attractive prizes. All proceeds from the ticket sale would go to charity.

Your precious contribution will go a long way in helping the less fortunate in our community. We look forward to your invaluable support and seeing you at the event.

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Special Education Schools
These schools provide special education to IDPs between the ages of four and 18 years old. The curriculum is tailored to suit the special needs of the children in order to train them to be independent and to be integrated into society. The focus is on functional skills that would allow the pupils to live independently as useful members of the society. The curriculum includes functional academics, self-help and social skills, music & movement, recreation and prevocational training. 

Employment Development Centres (EDC)
After graduating from the Special Schools at age 18, the IDPs can progress to the Employment Development Centres to receive vocational training, further training in functional and social skills, as well as perform contract work and be placed out into open employment.

Training & Development Centres
These are essentially day centers providing value-added training according to individual needs and abilities for IDPs of lower functioning level. Focus is on independent living and social skills.

Residential Care
Tampines Home (Thomson) offers quality residential care for IDPs who are severely handicapped. Tampines Home (West Coast) provides hostel-type service for IDPs who are working either in sheltered or open employment. Training, therapies, psychological intervention and recreation are part of the services offered. Both long-term and short-term care services are available.

Need for better facilities
Presently, many of MINDS’ facilities are still housed in old disused government buildings. The organisation is in the process of moving them to purpose-built premises to upgrade the quality of service. A 3-in-1 Combined Service Centre, comprising a residential home with hostel facility, complete with a Children’s Wing and a Day Training Centre, will be established at Lorong Napiri. Approximately $1.5 million will be needed to supplement government funding and to ensure a fairly well equipped and functional centre.

The organisation would welcome donations towards this building project to help it secure better facilities in order to achieve excellence in service provision. 

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The Singapore Red Cross is an independent international humanitarian organisation which is dedicated to protecting human life and dignity, relieving human suffering and responding to emergencies. 

The Singapore Red Cross is part of the world's largest humanitarian network, the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The Movement's work is based on the seven fundamental principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity and universality. The Singapore Red Cross reaches out to the most vulnerable both at home and abroad.

The humanitarian services of the Singapore Red Cross reach out to more than 10,000 beneficiaries at home. Among them are individuals with severe multiple disabilities, physically handicapped workers and low-income elderly individuals with chronic illnesses.

Through the recruitment of regular blood donors, the Singapore Red Cross helps to ensure that there is much needed regular supply of blood to patients in hospitals. The Singapore Red Cross, in preparing Singaporeans to face emergencies, both at home and at work, also imparts first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation skills to the community. Our youth programmes help to instil values of serving humanity among young people and shape our leaders of tomorrow.

Your generous contribution will go a long way in support of the humanitarian work of the Singapore Red Cross and the most vulnerable in our community.

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Initiated in 2000, this fund aims to provide financial assistance to children from low-income families who are attending school without proper breakfast or pocket money to sustain their day in school. At the same time, the funds will help children who are already facing difficulties in remaining in school to stay on.

The fund is administered by the National Council of Social Service, which makes quarterly disbursements to agencies, such as the Family Service Centres (FSC), Special Schools and Children's Homes to benefit their eligible clients.

Currently 37 FSCs, 22 Special Schools and 14 Children's Homes have been commissioned to administer the scheme.

Agencies' approval is based on a set of eligibility criteria and assessment of the family's financial situation. Based on the assessment of the case, social workers recommend the disbursement.

The amount disbursed for the approved applicants is as follows:

1. Primary Level $30/month
2. Secondary, ITE & Pre-U level $50/month

Disbursement of the pocket money to the beneficiary is done on a monthly basis, up to 12 months per school year. Administering agencies are still receiving fresh applications as more needy families are identified.

To apply for the School Pocket Money Fund the applicant (i.e. the child) must be:

1. A Singapore citizen or PR
2. A school student
3. From a low-income family (gross household income not exceeding $1,500 per month)
4. Living in a HDB 4-room flat or smaller

In its first year, donations from the public amounted to just over $1.3 million. In its second year, donations amounted to more than $2.5 million and that went on to support more than 5,150 kids who had applied for the fund. The fund aims to provide pocket money for over 7,000 students this year and is appealing to the public for donations to meet this aim. 

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Sunlove Home had its humble beginnings 16 years ago, in an unused chicken farm in Lim Chu Kang. It was converted to a makeshift home to house about 20 psychiatric patients who had nowhere to go. Eventually, with the assistance of the Ministry of Health, it moved to occupy Trafalgar Home, in Lorong Buang Kok, where the buildings were converted and refurbished in early 1995 to take in mentally infirmed residents.

Sunlove Home, being the only Home to provide residential & psychiatric care to intellectually disabled, now runs at full capacity, with 200 mentally infirmed residents. It is managed by a team of fully trained full time personnel and supported by a dedicated group of volunteers.

Rehabilitation and Restoration
The Home offers compassionate help in rehabilitative programmes, from daily supervision to psychotherapy, occupational and social therapy, including medical treatment. The residents are rehabilitated with the aim to ultimately reintegrate the residents back into society, restore hope to the individual and build their self-esteem and self worth.

Restoring the Social Stigma
Sunlove Home is a charitable home giving care to residents ranging from 22 to 75 years. The social stigma related to the intellectually infirmed has caused families to shun their loved ones. The secondary aim of the Home is to educate the public about the various forms of mental illness and to eradicate the misconception that mental patients are violent and cannot be restored to health. The truth is, even serious mental illnesses like Schizophrenia can be treated and with early diagnosis, 70% would respond well to treatment. The Home has opened its doors to give insight into volunteering opportunities thus gradually working towards removing the social stigma on psychiatrically ill individuals.

Community Projects
The Home has taken the initiative to be involved in major community based projects supported by the National Council of Social Services (NCSS), the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Ministry of Community Development and Sports (MCDS). It is currently involved in the following programmes:

1. Meals on Wheels & Laundry Services
Providing two meals a day and laundry services to homebound elderly and other immobilized individuals in the community. 

2. Dementia Day Care Programme
Providing respite care and rehabilitative programmes for the elderly with Dementia (Memory Loss). This service includes providing transport between the Home and the centre, as well as monitoring, supporting and providing information and education to the caregivers.

3. Home Help Services
Providing the needy elderly with alternative and affordable care in the comforts of their own homes. This service includes looking into the personal hygiene and general cleanliness of the elderly and their home. The service also provides the elderly with escort services for hospital visits and medical appointments. 

4. Neighbourhood Link
A base to provide recreational activities and social service for the poor and needy elderly, families and youth in the society to enable them to lead more meaningful lives. It serves as an outreach centre by referring cases that need financial assistance, counseling, etc., to the relevant authorities, professional bodies and social service agencies.

Sunlove Home will be moving to its new building at Buang Kok View very soon. As a voluntary welfare organization, the funds obtained for the Home are mainly from donations and contributions from kind organizations and volunteers. 

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Sunshine Welfare Action Mission (SWAMI) was established in 1986. It aims to provide long-term residential care for the elderly and elderly sick. The majority of SWAMI Home clients come from the lower income group. As such, the Home relies heavily on funding from the government and sponsors.

In the year 2000, SWAMI Home became the first Nursing Home in Singapore to acquire ISO 9002 Certification. As the Home became more entrenched in the Northwest Community, it realised the need to be more than just a nursing home. This sparked the development and launch of a slew of Community-Based Services for the elderly.

SWAMI Home has since introduced many more services that have proven to be invaluable to those in need. Although the Home has limited resources, it continues to leverage and optimise its resources to provide quality services to elderly. To-date, SWAMI Home provides the most comprehensive range of Community-Based Services, namely Day Care (Dementia Day Care, Day Rehabilitation), Home Care (Home Help, Home Medical, Home Nursing) and Case Management.

Services
1. Nursing Home that provides residential nursing care facilities for 190 elderly. Services provided are medical, nursing care and rehabilitation through physiotherapy and occupational therapy in a homely environment.

2. Day Care Services – Elderly are in SWAMI Home for activities during the daytime.
- Dementia Day Care 
This service brings relief to working families who may not have anyone to look after the dementia patient during the day. Activities in the form of games and exercises are organized to keep them active and alert.
- Day Rehabilitation Service
This Service is designed to improve and maintain the maximum functional ability of the elderly. Individual and group exercises are encouraged amongst the elderly through games, callisthenic exercises and physiotherapy to keep them active.

3. Home Help Services
The Home provides well-prepared, nutritionally balanced meals by well-trained professionals on a daily basis (two meals per day), assist in personal hygiene/ grooming/ household chores/ home management, laundry services, purchase of necessities, collection of medicine, and escort services. Nearly 150 elderly living in the community are being provided with SWAMI – Home Help Service.

4. Home Medical
This service provides Home Medical Care for homebound elderly at their residence. The aim is to promote, maintain or restore the health of elderly and to maximize their level of independence. With this service, a medical doctor treats patients in their own homes.

5. Home Nursing
This service is designed to provide nursing care for the aged sick and non-ambulant elderly in their own homes. The service focuses on disease control and functional problems. We have professionally trained nurses who are experienced in working with the elderly.

6. Case Management
Case Management helps the elderly and these families to get the necessary services to improve their quality of life. Clients are case-managed & referred to Centres, Dementia Day Care, Day Rehabilitation, Home Help Service or Home Medical, Home Nursing & Nursing Home. The goal is to help the elderly live with their loved ones for as long as possible. Nearly 150 families/elderly will benefit from this service.

Over the years there has been an increasing number of applications for our services. With Singapore’s population aging rapidly, more elderly may need the Home’s assistance. Hence, more resources are needed to extend their services to the increasing group.

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