Welfare Services ¢ By the Methodist Welfare Services (MWS) Communications Team / Visuals courtesy of Methodist Welfare Services
WHO are you
a neighbour to?
T
he COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect our lives, despite the easing of control measures. For those who have fewer resources and are more likely to lose their jobs, the impact is substantially heavier. From a Christian perspective, the current pandemic is providing followers with ample opportunities to obey Christ’s command to “love your neighbour as yourself” (Matt 22:39b), with our neighbours being the struggling men, women and youth in our community. One such person is Ms Lyra Loh. The sole breadwinner of her family of three, which includes her four-year-old daughter and elderly mother, Lyra already had enough on her plate before COVID-19 struck. Despite being diagnosed with several mental disorders in the past, Lyra is committed to overcome her condition, work hard to support her family and save up for her daughter’s future. When the pandemic broke out, Lyra had to take a significant pay cut, which drained her savings and made it more challenging to make ends meet. She is also fearful of contracting the virus and putting her young daughter and elderly mother at risk. In the face of these mounting problems, Lyra found herself feeling helpless and hopeless. Yet, motivated by her love for her daughter, Lyra picks herself up each time and reaches out to her case workers whenever she needs help.
also stepped up to care for rough sleepers who are rehoused in Buangkok. MWS is committed to maintaining our high level of service and care to everyone we serve as well as the new clients who come through our doors. We are: •
ensuring that our medical and protective supplies are replenished, and adopting new safety services to keep our residential facilities and frontline services safe for both beneficiaries and staff;
•
providing financial support to families and individuals;
•
hiring more staff to support youths and low-income families;
•
equipping seniors with digital skills to stay engaged with the community; and
•
ensuring that our care teams who are pulling extra shifts commute safely to their workplaces every day, and caring for their mental well-being so that they can continue to give the best to the clients they serve.
All these have increased our costs while donations have not risen in tandem. In the meantime, we continue to care for close to 12,000 existing beneficiaries through our 20 critical centres and programmes. Be the neighbour we need. Please donate generously to keep MWS going!
Lyra is one of the many people who have come to Methodist Welfare Services (MWS) to seek help for COVID19-related problems.
Your donation will be used to better the lives of
Our Neighbours are Suffering
the Solidarity Payment given by the government if
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, MWS has seen a higher caseload of families whose livelihoods have been affected, like Lyra’s, or who have lost their livelihoods. The need for daily and constant sanitising of our facilities and medical supplies to keep beneficiaries and staff safe have intensified. Our seniors are feeling more isolated as they are unable to participate in social and wellness activities like before and more has to be done to engage them individually. MWS has
you do not need it. Every dollar matters.
the disadvantaged, especially those who need it to weather the COVID-19 storm. Please consider donating
https://mws.sg/product/who-are-you-a-neighbour-to/ or scan the QR code to donate.
METHODIST MESSAGE SEPTEMBER 2020
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