M E M B E R E N GAG EMENT
Flame of Gratitude in My ‘Willing Heart’ SCC Community Outreach with Willing Hearts on Sunday, 31 October 2021 Written by: Siddh Narayan Sharma, (Grade 10, Canadian International School, Singapore) I recently got a chance to attend the SCC Community Outreach with Willing Hearts once again. Because we had been there previously, I already had a lay of the land and wasted no time diving right into the work. Over the course of the last year, my experiences working alongside the Singapore Cricket Club to complete community service and give back to the community have been plentiful, and I have found myself leaving each experience with new knowledge, new skills, and new relationships. SCC’s October trip to Willing Hearts, in particular, showed me a new side of the soup kitchen as I completed tasks all around the facility. We first started at the vegetable cutting station, but was soon called upon for some manual labour, and I, along with some of the other boys my age, were handpicked to help out with the heavy lifting. We helped move some heavy bins and also unloaded supplies for food production from the supply trucks. This was an added bonus to an already meaningful activity - a bonus workout! Two boxes of vegetables and 45 minutes later, a group of men approached the chopping area, began frantically pointing at every teenage boy in sight, and asked us to follow them into the foyer. In a state of initial confusion, I joined the other kids my age as we followed the men to an area, fully crowded with 6-foot tall garbage bins. The men then asked us to wheel the bins to the outside carpark, where they would be collected by garbage trucks later on. I leaped at the challenge, and helped pushed some heavy bins around until the last bin was wheeled onto the tarmac. This additional challenge made the experience all the more entertaining for me, as I explored an entirely new side of the facility, meeting new people along the way. Still buzzing with energy, I ran back to the peeling station for a rematch with the box of carrots, looking to maximize my productivity. Barely 10 minutes passed before a new duty called for a second time, and the group of teenagers assembled for an encore. Because the men did not provide us with any information about the task at-hand, this created a lot of suspense during our long walks from the vegetable chopping area to the carpark. Nothing could have prepared me for the job we were assigned to do during the second trip. A colossal pickup truck pulled into the carpark, absolutely loaded with Styrofoam containers. When I asked the driver what was in the back, to my absolute shock, he said live fish! Apparently, the soup kitchen places orders directly from Kranji fisheries to deliver live fish, maximising the freshness and quality of the food being prepared. Accompanied by the rest of my team, we got to work unloading the many boxes. After what seemed like hours of endless lifting, we were finally relieved of our duties, and went back to our respective stations. On my way back to the chopping station, I stumbled across an assembly of volunteers who seemed to be cooking giant pots of laksa. Eager to try something new, I went into the kitchen and was quickly briefed on how the assembly chain worked, and what my role in the system would be. After getting acquainted with my team and familiarising myself with the job at-hand, I got to work, unpacking boxes of seasoning and stirring laksa pots like a well-oiled machine. After completing dozens of tasks, and working with hundreds of volunteers, it brought a smile to my face to see that everyone was still unified through our collective goals despite being from different walks of life. I even got to meet Uncle Lawrence for the second time (he was just as crabby as ever!). This trip to Willing Hearts was a perpetual reminder that you can work hard to give back & enjoy yourself at the same time. I also gained some much-needed perspective, as my work in the kitchens and chopping stations gave me a small taste of a day in the life of a worker, jam-packed with tireless labour. I was especially glad to find out that the meals I prepared would feed migrant workers, the disabled, low-income families, and others in need of hot, healthy & fresh meals. I am lucky to have had this experience that helped broaden my perspectives. By taking time out of my day to work hard in the kitchen, I managed to ignite a flame of gratitude in my ‘willing heart’, as I used my own two hands to give back to society. I learnt that – at the end of the day, our deeds unite us more than our individual titles, as when it storms and rains, it falls on all of us the same. JAN / FEB 2022 THE PADANG
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