Volunteer Recruitment/Retention

Hi,

It has been quite a while since I posted something on this blog. Just want to share with you guys some thoughts that came across me recently, a valid concern I had.

During one of the recent class, Huizhen told me someone commented our programme was very well structured! I was quite happy to hear that (so is Huizhen when she was telling me) because that was something we have been trying to work on and improve, instead of being haphazard – which some of us felt.

The effort put in has paid off. It is also made possible by the presence of more regular, committed volunteers in the past few months that help to minimize disruption to the programme and to ensure continuous learning for our trainees. The programme is flexible enough to be executed during shortfall of volunteers. What's left is for us to document down the contingency plans, to allow volunteers to facilitate the session as and when needed.

With the above, does it mean that we are ready to expand our service to handle more trainees so that it will benefit more people with special needs?

Well, volunteer recruitment/retention is always a challenge for MYG and especially so for BK for many years. We do not have a continuous flow of new volunteers joining us, to cover the shortfall as well as to succeed the existing volunteers, who will move on to another stage of their life sooner or later. Our trainees profile seems not attractive enough to sustain the interests of new volunteers, to encourage them to continue offering their service to the project. But this is something we don't want to change because our trainees profile is the reason why BKTG exist. However, we can definitely put in place plans to deal with challenges in volunteer recruitment/retention. For example, we have plans (just need to execute them) to make arrangement with institutions/organizations to expose the project to more people and potentially recruit more new volunteers. I believe you have more ideas to share. So, do share your thoughts, k!

We have worked out something for our programme; it's time for us to work hand in hand to grow our volunteer pool. On good times with sufficient resources, we should put in place the proper infrastructure so that in times of crisis, things will just naturally fall in place and ride us through the tough times!

-choon seng

National Day Outing

Hey ppl!

Here's the highly anticipated (and procrastinated) results of our National Day Outing - Chek Jawa!

Chek Jawa is a swamp in Pulau Ubin, and it was *almost* reclaimed. Fortunately a group of nature lovers petitioned to have it conserved. Recently, a broadwalk is open to allow visitors clean feet while examining the flora and fauna. For more info, pls go to http://chekjawa.nus.edu.sg/

Details of the outing below:
Date: 9th Aug 07 (Thu)
Meeting Place: Tampines MRT
Meeting Time: 9am
Approx End Time: 2pm
Contact Person: Jianyun
Mode of transport: bus -> boat -> bicycle -> broadwalk (wow, 4 B's!)
To Bring: water, camera, hat, sunblock, insect repellant, spare clothes, sneakers / canvas shoes, snacks
Wet Weather plan: None (I'll send sms if it's cancelled) Watch movie?

SMS me if you are coming so I know who are the lazy pigs to wait for. Lastly, I must mention that the tides will be quite high (abt 2 m) and we may not see muddy flats. In any case, you can take it as a Pulau Ubin cycling trip. ;p

Hope to see ya,
Jianyun