Methodist Welfare Services launches platform to match volunteers with suitable opportunities
A demonstration of The Healing Nation digital portal at the launch of the initiative held at the Methodist Welfare Services Nursing Home on May 29. ST PHOTO: GAVIN FOO
SINGAPORE – Individuals, businesses and community groups can now be matched to suitable volunteer opportunities on a new volunteer portal called The Healing Nation.
Launched by Methodist Welfare Services (MWS) to mark SG60 and the 140th year of the Methodist Church in Singapore, the platform hopes to boost volunteerism here.
There are 143 volunteer opportunities with more than 100 charities that cater to different interests, needs and availability.
These include facilitating workshops for children, offering seniors barber services, befriending rough sleepers and supporting persons with intellectual disability in water play.
The charities work with the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth's 24 SG Cares Volunteer Centres, which are community-based organisations in each town appointed to coordinate volunteer efforts and resources to meet community needs.
The charity shared its plans at a media briefing at the MWS Nursing Home in Eunos on May 29.
MWS hopes to get people to pledge a total of 1.4 million hours of volunteer service in 2025. Close to 180,000 volunteer hours have been pledged by Methodist schools, churches and individuals since the platform was piloted within Singapore's Methodist community in April.
The platform is now open to everyone in Singapore.
Built by fund-raising platform Give.Asia, the volunteer platform's algorithm uses artificial intelligence to learn users' preferences and improve matches over time.
The platform can also track the hours of community service clocked by the individual or organisation.
(From left) Kampong Kapor Community Services executive director Lee Yean Wun, Methodist Welfare Services board of governance chairman Eugene Toh, Bishop Philip Lim, Methodist Welfare Services CEO Calvin Ngo, and Give.Asia founder and CEO Pong Yu Ming at the launch of The Healing Nation initiative at the Methodist Welfare Services Nursing Home on May 29.
ST PHOTO: GAVIN FOO
Separately, MWS also aims to raise $1.4 million to fund social and healthcare services beyond its own services. It will hold an open call for charities to receive funds to help 1,000 families. About $600,000 has been raised so far.
Mr Eugene Toh, chairman of the MWS board of governance, said many charities here have been building their own volunteer bases, but MWS hopes to help spur greater partnership in the care sector with shared resources and mutual support.
'In a world where things are interconnected, whether it's ageing, chronic illness or isolation, our response must also be interconnected,' he said.
The Healing Nation platform will run until February 2027.
Speaking at the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) Community Care Work Plan Seminar 2025 on May 28, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung had highlighted the growing demand for community care to meet the needs of Singapore's ageing population.
He said the 'centre of gravity' of care will shift from hospitals to communities, helping seniors who are healthy to stay healthy, and those with chronic diseases to manage them well.
MWS started in 1981 as a small nursing home, and has since grown to 23 centres, with programmes serving more than 16,700 families and individuals who experience poor health and financial distress.
The charity provides services such as casework, counselling, medical and rehabilitative care, home-based, community-based and residential care, as well as a debt clearance and asset building scheme.
Madam Li Chang, 50, was recommended by The Healing Nation platform to volunteer at the charity Riding for the Disabled Association Singapore in April.
The housewife volunteers for 2½ hours on Wednesday mornings, helping to facilitate equine therapy programmes for people with special needs.
Madam Li, who has previously volunteered at the MWS Nursing Home in Yew Tee offering pastoral care to residents, said she had wanted to try something new.
'I grew up in the city, so I'm fascinated by horses,' she said in Mandarin.
She also hopes to take her 18-year-old son, who has autism, to an equine therapy session.
Those interested can sign up for volunteer opportunities at The Healing Nation website at TheHealingNation.sg, while organisations that wish to upload their volunteer opportunities can e-mail mcs140thn@mws.sg
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Methodist Welfare Services launches platform to match volunteers with suitable opportunities
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