Dear Friends,
OVERVIEW
“Thank You to our Volunteers”
Thank you, Volunteers!
Last weekend, at Jurong Lakeside Garden a group of 23 volunteers went out on a Kayak clean up. What is so unique about it? After all, was it not another weekly Waterways Watch patrol and clean up duty? Yes it was but, judging by the size of the group present, the enthusiasm and demonstrated physical effort put in by them, a special mention must be made in this report. This they did in spite of the inclement weather.
In the same vein, we must also acknowledge some members who also made the effort to come for duty at Kallang, Punggol and Pang Sua in spite of the inclement weather. It was a sense of duty and passion that made them do it. We are proud to have them. In fact, we have many such members to say the least. One member at Lakeside, on a weekday during the week when the weather was not good for outside work, even called up and suggested that he could do bike maintenance if needed. Last week, at Kallang some members who could not go out, did not idle.
They rolled up their sleeves and helped up with cleaning up the premises and did some bike maintenance. Thank you members and volunteers for your dedication, effort and belief. No thoughts and actions are too small to be appreciated. Special thanks to our five leaders -Jonathan, Patricia, Amberly, KuiFeng and Thiam for leading the Kayakers at Lakeside.
Plogging in the water and on land.
The presence of the Kayak group and their activities at Lakeside last weekend has helped us to reflect on what we could do more as volunteers to spread the message of keeping our environment and our water clean and safe. This leads us to suggest that we could have members doing plogging at parks and in the heartland neighbourhoods. ‘Plogging originated in Sweden as a popular new way to exercise and save the planet at the same time. Just as the name suggests, plogging is the activity of jogging and picking up trash along the way.’ An enjoyable activity for the more youthful and fitness enthusiasts among our members? The kayakers were doing just that; exercising and picking up trash. They were “plogging in the water!” Perhaps more social kayak enthusiasts can do this when on their own.
So, we are asking for volunteers to come forth, organise a group wearing our T-shirts jogging and picking up trash in the neighbourhood. Any takers and we welcome ideas. Any Takers?
In summary, the following activities were done for this week:
- We conducted 6 CSR programmes which were attended by 225 participants and together they collected a total of 285 kg of litter. The activities that were conducted included the following:
- 1 x Boat Clean up
- 1 x Bike Clean up
- 5 x Kayak Clean up
- 2 x Pedal Boat Clean up
- We conducted an Assembly Talk to a Primary School which was attended by about 1000 students.
- An On-the-Job Orientation was conducted for 11 new members on their roles and responsibilities when doing patrol. The group included, for the first time, a cabin stewardess, Natvianne from SIA. Let’s hope we see more such cabin crew sign-ups.
- This week a total of 113 members were involved for CSR/VIA programmes, talk, patrols, administration, housekeeping duties and training and, the total trash collected = 396 kg.
- Boat Patrol. A total of 3 Boat patrols were carried out; 2 at Marina and 1 at Punggol.
- Bike Patrol. 1 Bike patrol was carried out at Marina.
- Foot Patrol. We conducted 2 Foot Patrols, one each at Pang Sua and Punggol.
- Kayak Patrol. A Kayak patrol and clean up was carried out at Lakeside Garden.
- Pedal boat Patrol. No Pedal Boat patrol was conducted at Marina due to inclement weather.
- Boat Training. We conducted 1 Boat Training at Marina.
- Physical Boat Clean Up Orientation for New Applicants. This was conducted for 11 new members at Marina.
- Boat Tour for Frontline workers. No boat tour was conducted at Marina.
ACTIVITIES AND REPORT
1. Educational Programmes
2. Volunteer Patrols & Activities
a. Marina
b. Punggol
c. Lakeside
d. Pang Sua Pond
e. Yishun Pond Patrol
