From December 2023 to January 2024, I organised a book donation drive to help collect and distribute books to people in need. I also roped in my parents and siblings as I needed extra manpower and support to enable that project was run successfully. During the 2023 December school holidays, my family and I approached Ms Nalini from Big-At-Heart who linked us up to various recipient organisations. We also approached OrangTee, who generously allowed us to use their office as a book drop-off and collection point. OrangeTee also actively publicised this initiative on their social media platforms to encourage and promote the donation of books.
My main role was to plan and organise the book collection project, design the publicity and communications materials, and co-ordinate with the administrator from OrangeTee to ensure that the communications materials and social media posts were published, and sorting out any issues arising from the project. I also had to attend to public enquiries from donors, on top of the physically laborious tasks of sorting, packing and delivering the books to the recipients, as well as ensuring that the book collection point was kept neat and tidy.
Initially, I felt that the task was extremely daunting due to the many roles and responsibilities that I had to shoulder. It was also time consuming as we had to routinely head down to the book collection point to pack and sort out the books according to the needs and requirements of each individual recipient organisation. Ultimately the project was a huge success and we exceeded our target within the first two weeks of the campaign. Initially, the books were meant for the youths at Yong En Care Cere, but due to overwhelming response from the donors, we had excess books which were sent to recipients such as the migrant workers at Terusan Recreation Centre and various outfits operated by Asian Women’s Welfare Association (AWWA) eg Dementia Day Care centre and Kindle Garen, an inclusive preschool.
I am extremely grateful to Big At Heart and OrangeTee, as well as the recipient organisations for giving me the opportunity to spearhead this community outreach initiative, and I sincerely hope that the books collected will positively impact the recipients who need them.