vCares Issue 5 - Paying It Forward

www.carecorner.org.sg vCares Newsletter Issue 5

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Paying It Forward An exploration into how you can invest your life to help build our youths for life

Eric Sng, a social worker with Care Corner - Teck Ghee

Youth Centre (CC-TGYC), may be speaking from personal

experience. A troubled youth once, he used to play truant

and stay out from home with his friends until late at night.

When he was 17, he was caught by a security guard and

was arrested for shoplifting. His life started to turn around

when he joined the army for National Service. There, he

met good role models whom he could look up to; they helped him re-angle his life in the right direction.

Attending church and starting university also further helped him to look at life differently. He realised

that while he was fortunate to have met his role models, there are many others who do not have the

same opportunities as him.

“Whenever I hear people bemoaning

how youths today are problematic and

not doing well, I always think: Isn’t it

our responsibility to help them?”

Eric Sng


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“There is a lack of support and guidance for at-risk youth,” he said. “I believe there is much potential in

young people, and with my life experience, I thought I could connect with them. Being a social worker is

one way I can contribute.”

As a social worker, Eric has developed mentorship programmes and counselled youths with behavioral or

family issues. Currently, he is supervising junior social workers handling the Guidance Program for

juvenile offenders. After being caught by the police, instead of being charged in court, these youths are

given a second chance and are referred to the centre to undergo a mandatory six-month counselling

programme. Eric has touched the lives of many young people and continues to hear of the good progress

made by the youths even after the programmes ended.

The Guidance Program has a success rate of 90% nationwide. In other words, for every ten youth who

complete the program, only one is likely to re-offend. This encouraging statistic highlights the importance

of giving juvenile offenders a second chance to turn their life around.

The programme requires substantial volunteer support, especially for the group activities conducted for

the youths. These are held four times a year, and each season runs for one to two months. An ideal adult-

youth ratio is 1:5, and with a relatively small staff team, many more youths can be helped with

meaningful partnership with our volunteers. Volunteers receive necessary training to facilitate the

sessions, which are held once or twice weekly over the season. Besides helping out with the group

activities, volunteers could also choose to help the centre do more through Operations Support such as

rendering support in administrative duties and conducting curfew checks. In the end, the most important

outcome of volunteering is to share one’s life experiences

with the teens and show them that they are able to take

charge of their own lives.

Today, besides Eric’s involvement in social work intervention

with the youths, he also believes in the critical role

volunteers can play in helping to develop our youths and

currently looks into Volunteer Development & Partnerships

in the centre. To potential volunteers, Eric has this to say:

“Naturally, there will always be some apprehension about

volunteering for the first time. At CC-TGYC, we believe in

investing in our volunteers, so we ensure that there is

sufficient training for them. Along the way, the staff will

always be there for guidance and support. So what we are

looking for is simply the desire to serve and the willingness


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to learn alongside the youths. Together, we can achieve something meaningful.”

So, if you have been wanting to contribute to society, volunteering with Care Corner is definitely a

worthwhile cause. Just as you have benefitted from the advice and words of wisdom from your seniors

and mentors, you can pay it forward by sharing your own life experience with the youths of today.

As a famous saying goes “Be the mentor you wish you had.” For more information on volunteering in

Care Corner’s Youth Services, please visit http://tiny.cc/ccsvolunteer.

This article has been made possible and brought to you by our friendly Editorial Volunteer, Rachel and

translated our helpful Translation Volunteer, Tan Kheng Meng.

“ It is safe to say that Rachel loves stories. Fortunately for her,

everyone has a story to tell. She enjoys uncovering the lessons that

people have to offer and sharing them with the world.

”

“ I have always been encouraged reading Care Corner’s Volunteer

Cares Newsletter; it contains many wonderful and meaningful stories

of how volunteers make a difference. These stories, written by

editorial volunteers themselves, have always encouraged me and it is

also with this that I have taken my first steps to being a volunteer.

I have recently retired from an editorial role. Due to health reasons, I

am unable to render services in the direct service, such as

befriending the seniors or volunteering with youths in making a difference for the community.

However, just as some volunteers had aptly remarked, serving the community can indeed take

many forms and this encouraged me to take to step to be a translation volunteer with Care

Corner. I hope to be able to use my editorial experience and skills to help extend the reach of the

http://tiny.cc/ccsvolunteer


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exciting stories of the work of Care Corner’s volunteers. By translating them into Chinese, I hope

more will come to know the work and mission of Care Corner; I hope to extend the reach of

these powerful stories to small and medium enterprises, Chinese businesses, clans, shops and

communities. It is hoped that my little effort will be a spark in helping others consider making a

difference too, by serving as a volunteer; serving the needy alongside the charities.

I hope that these articles will help our readers be better acquainted with the volunteers’ labour of

love for the community.

”

Edited by: James Lim


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薪火相传为迷途青年指路您的历练能助他们建立人生

身为过来人的 Eric Sng 与我们分享他的亲

身经历。他是关怀 - 德义青少年中心社工，也

曾是个问题青年，经常逃学，和朋友在外头游

荡到深夜。他 17 岁时在商店偷窃被保安员逮着

而被警方逮捕。但国民服役改变了他的人生。

他在军中遇到能让他学习好榜样的良师益友，

他们帮他纠正人生方向，走回正途。加入教会

和进入大学更让他能以不同的角度看待自己的

人生。但他也悟出，他很幸运能遇到能帮他改邪归正的贵人，很多人就未必有这个

机会。

每当我听到现在的青少年问

题多多和多么不长进的批

评，我心里总是这么想：帮

助他们不也是我们的责任

吗？

-------Eric Sng


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“迷途青年缺乏支持和指引。我认为年轻人前途无量，如果我能发挥我的个人阅历，

我也许能和他们沟通。当社工让我能奉献这点绵力。”

作为社工，Eric 为有行为和家庭问题的青少年筹划导师和辅导计划。目前，他督导

一群初级社工执行指引违法青少年改邪归正的导师计划 (Guidance Program)。警方

逮捕违法青少年后，与其把他们控上法庭，却给他们第二次机会；他们在德义青

少年中心接受 6 个月强制辅导计划。Eric 为许多迷途青少年点燃了指路火炬。这些

青少年在计划结束后，继续给他捎来人生进展良好的好消息。

导师计划的全国成功率高达 90% 。也就是说，每 10 个完成导师计划的青少年中，

只有一个可能会再违法。这个振奋人心的数据，显示让违法青少年有改变自己人生

的第二个机会是非常重要的。

但这些计划需要强大的义工支持，特别是为青少年而办的群体活动。这类活动每年

办 4 场，每次长达一、两个月。最理想的成人对青少年比例是一对五。但中心的职

员人力单薄，因此跟义工结成有意义的伙伴关系，将能使更多青少年得到帮助。关

怀机构也会为义工提供必需的训练，以便他们顺利完成他们每周一、两天的任务。

除了协助主办青少年群体活动，义工也能选择在运作方面为青年中心提供更多援助，

例如协助行政职务和执行青少年的宵禁监督。归根结底，志愿服务的最终目标就是

和青少年分享个人历练，让他们知道他们也有能力掌控自己的人生。

虽然 Eric 目前忙于执行青少年的社会工作项目，但他深相信义工能在协助栽培青少

年方面扮演更关键的角色，因此他在中心也担任义工发展及合伙的工作。他要告诉

有志当义工的朋友:“首次当义工，自然会有点怕。但在关怀－德义青少年中心，

我们重视对义工的投入，确保他们取得足够的训练。我们的职员会全程给予义工指

导和支持。因此，只要您有是一颗愿为青少年服务、陪伴他们一起学习的心就行了。

我们相信，只要我们同心协力，就能取得意义非凡的结果。”


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如果您也有奉献社会的心意，到关怀机构当义工绝对值得您去做。就如您曾从资深

前辈和导师的指导和智慧传授中得益一样，您也能薪火相传的，跟今天的年轻人分

享您的个人历练。有句名言说：“当一个你希望自己也能有的导师”。

欲知更多当关怀机构青少年服务义工的详情，请您浏览 http://tiny.cc/ccsvolunteer

网页。

您阅读的这篇精彩文章，是由我们友善的编辑室义工 Rachel 带给您的。

“

说 Rachel 爱听故事，一点也没错。幸运的是，每个人都

有故事告诉她。她乐于发掘人们提供的经历，并与大家

分享。 ”

翻译：陈天明

“

关怀机构的义工会讯《Volunteer Cares》经常有非

常精彩的文章，由一群义工义务撰写，把志愿服务的精

神和故事跟社会大众分享，这让我很感动，也踏出了我

当义工的第一步。

我刚从文化机构退休，由于健康关系，我无法实

际参与前线义工服务诸如和老人家聊天，或与青少年一

起服务社区的活动。

正如一些关怀机构的义工所说，服务社会不拘形

式，这鼓舞了我贡献英译中的信心，希望借助过去在文化企业的一点小专长，

把关怀机构的义工会讯《Volunteer Cares》中的精彩故事、要向社会大众传达的

信息，翻译成中文，让更多人可以认识及了解关怀机构服务社会大众的宗旨和

使命，也把关怀机构的触角伸展到中小型企业、华商组织、宗乡团体，及邻里


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商店和居民社区，鼓励他们也从各自的能力范围和途径，去协助福利慈善团体

为有需要的社会群体服务。

我希望我的翻译，也能让中文读者读到精彩的关怀社会文章。 ”

编辑：林顺良

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vCares Issue 5 - Paying It Forward