Project Happy Feet’s very first interns Fei Ying and Grace Goh were featured in the May-July issue of npTribune, a newspaper published by students from the diploma of Mass Communications at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Singapore. Read the feature here!
Project Happy Feet would like to thank Ms Abigail Tan, a year 3 Mass Communications student, for the feature.
FROM Singapore to Siem Reap, two students from Business & Social Enterprise (BZSE) believe that volunteering goes beyond the act of charity.
Goh Hui Ern Grace and Tan Fei Ying, both 19-year-old final-year BZSE students, are no strangers to community involvement programmes.
“Volunteering is not easy. When helping the needy, time [and] commitment are very important elements,” says Grace, who is currently interning with Fei Ying at Project Happy Feet (PHF), a non-profit organization.
Along with 11 other PHF volunteers, Grace and Fei Ying travelled to Siem Reap, Cambodia, in March, to distribute funds raised from PHF ‘s inaugural Slipper Race in 2011.
Fei Ying says, “We complain about not having enough shoes or change them unnecessarily to keep up with trends.”
As the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) permits only 20 percent of funds to be donated overseas, Grace and Fei Ying worked together to hold a private bake sale on Facebook, which raised over $1,000.
“We had to wake up early in the morning for several weeks, just to bake cookies,” says Fei Ying.
The long days certainly paid off, as the funds raised helped sponsor six scholarships, 75 packets of school supplies and a water filtration system in Cambodia.
“It’s actually easier to just go around asking for money, but the ladies chose to stick to using their talents to raise funds,” says Mr Terence Quek, the communications director and a founding member of PHF.
Fei Ying also shares that Grace is a passionate and enthusiastic volunteer.
Grace had voluntarily cut off 11 inches of her hair to donate to an overseas non-profit organization that makes wigs for children with cancer.
“The magnitude of people in need is large. I grew up in a family that advocates giving. That is why I believe in doing my utmost no matter how miniscule the impact and I hope that one day, I will make a significant impact on someone else’s life,” says Grace.
She recounts an experience with a grateful old woman who started crying after receiving $20 worth of NTUC vouchers. This incident motivates her to do even more community work.
The two public-spirited students feel that teenagers are mostly passive about volunteering and most feel compelled to volunteer because of peer pressure.
“So when their friends stop, they stop [volunteering] too,” says Fei Ying.
Mr Quek describes Grace and Fei Ting dedicated, serious and positive volunteers, despite the fact that both of them receive no form of income from PHF.
Grace and Fei Ying have also learnt useful management and leadership skills through handling PHF projects.
“All the skills that we’ve picked up are out of the books,” says Fei Ying.
Note to readers: The amount that Feiying and Grace raised were actually earned through their baking and selling to family and friends. PHF would like to remind readers that a public or private fund-raising permit is required from MCYS for ANY fund-raising for a foreign cause. For more information about fund-raising permits, please click here.
