400 SAF PERSONNEL TAKE PART IN COMMUNITY WORK ISLANDWIDE

About 400 serviceman and women from the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Personnel Hub took time off work to do their part for the community through various projects across the island on 27 Nov.

About 130 of them accompanied 60 children from a voluntary welfare organisation to fly kites at the Marina Barrage. Another group helped to remove litter on six beaches across Singapore, while others donated blood at the Blood Bank.

These activities were part of the SAF Personnel Hub's annual Alive 2 Care Day community programme. This was the third edition since it started in 2013.

Earlier this month, the SAF Personnel Hub - a human resource administration department - started a series of pre-programme voluntary work as a lead up to Alive 2 Care Day.

Servicemen and women clocked 1,000 man-hours over two weeks at Willing Hearts' soup kitchen, preparing and delivering meals for the needy.

In addition, they donated 5,000 kg of rice to Food from the Heart, a voluntary food distribution programme.

They also collected 180 kg of ring tabs from drink cans for the Ring for Lives, a community organisation. The aluminium will be recycled and made into prosthetic legs for those in need.

Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Ang Khai Siang, Head of SAF Personnel Hub (East), noted that the Alive 2 Care Day programme had provided his staff - comprising Regulars, Full-time National Servicemen (NSFs) and Defence Executive Officers - the opportunities to serve the less fortunate in society.

"It's about extending our service to the less fortunate and the greater community outside the SAF. Through it, I hope to inculcate the correct values to my staff, such as not to take things for granted," he said.

For NSF Lance Corporal Sajiriddin Sahir Badar, who took part in the kite-flying programme, it was his first time doing voluntary work with children.

"It was challenging to get the shy ones to warm up to me. But when I saw them breaking into smiles, having fun, I felt it was worth the effort," said the 22-year-old admin support assistant.