Chairman’s Message

 

Loving Heart Multi-Service Centre ( Jurong) was launched 16 years ago as a one-stop social service centre, serving disadvantaged families in Jurong. With our focus on youth and the community, we aspire to be a strong partner within the growing ecosystem of social services. We believe our key strengths lies in our history and deep roots within the Jurong community, enabling us to respond effectively to the changing needs of vulnerable households.

As our organization heads into its “ teenage” years, we are rejuvenating several of our programmes to meet emerging gaps in services. We expanded our Food Gift Programme to include more choices for our beneficiaries, such as fresh food and household necessities, as well as diaper and milk formula aid to support families with young children and seniors. Our TCM Clinic, in partnership with Cheng Hong Welfare Service Society, increased from two sessions to five sessions a week. We piloted the Medical Escort & Transport Scheme with Dorcas Home Services (a project of Presbyterian Community Services) for residents requiring assistance to attend medical appointments. We also refreshed our Free Tuition Programme by launching separate enrichment classes for younger Primary one and two students and bringing in professional mentors to support our volunteer tutors.

I am proud to highlight the dynamism and resilience of our staff who acted effectively during the COVID-19 Circuit Breaker. During this period, the team launched the Free Breakfast Scheme in partnership with Ms Joyce Yu, a Jurong resident, to deliver 6,322 breakfasts over 55 days. At the same time, we also ensured that distribution of food gifts to our beneficiaries were not disrupted.

COVID-19 has accelerated digitization which has created a new way of l ife for many. This has increased the risk of social inequality, as vulnerable families lack resources such as laptops. We were fortunate to partner with United Overseas Bank and TOUCH Young Arrows to provide laptops to families on an urgent basis. We also moved our Free Tuition Programme online to maintain a close connection between our staff, mentors, and young learners during this period of home-based learning.

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to our advisers, donors, volunteers, and partners for their steadfast and unflinching support. Your years of support enabled Loving Heart to increase our programme spending in 2019 and 2020, invest in our staff capabilities, and sustain our ground-up initiatives despite an extremely challenging period for fund-raising.

I look forward to continuing our journey with the support of the Management Committee, staff, volunteers, our honourable advisers, and patrons.