Excuse Me, Can I Help You?
Initiated by Ms Sheena Jebal (CEO/ Founder) of NuLife Care & Counselling Services. The directory was done in collaboration with NuLife & the Community Engagement Programme Secretariat (MHA) supported by Singapore United.
The directory was launched by Mr Masagos Zulkifli (Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Education and MP for Tampines GRC).
The directory was launched on the 26th of October 2008. The directory was updated and reprinted in December 2008.
The directory is much like the Yellow Pages catered for the Social Service sector and it hosts information such as the address, telephone, fax, website, emails and specialisation of all Voluntary Welfare Organisations and Community agencies in Singapore. The directory is categorised according to the 5 Community Development Councils (CDCs) in Singapore. It also has a segment on helplines which includes contact details of the various ministries, sheltered homes, judiciary agencies, driving centres and many more.
The directory will be very useful for all, especially to all educators. This will ensure that students and their family members are referred to the right agency for assistance and that they need not knock on doors that do not render the specific assistance they are sourcing for. Schools will also have burden lifted as they need not handle the issues at hand as they can refer their students and family members to the relevant external agency.
In times of the recent recession, everyone should own a copy not only for professional use but also for self benefit. Owning a copy will empower the individual to refer their neighbours, friends and relatives to the right helping agency. Users need not make operated assisted calls which cost about 70 cents on a residential line to enquire maximum of 2 contact numbers of helping agencies.
The categorisation of agencies according to the CDCs will ensure that users do not bypass the agencies in their constituency and approach agencies in another constituency for the assistance will not be rendered to them.
Users need only highlight their issue to the agency rendering the assistance and not to others. This will ensure privacy and confidentiality of the person seeking assistance. Face value is very important amongst the community as such many do not seek assistance for their issues for the fear that they may become the topic of discussion. With the specialisation of each agency, users need not repeat their issues to one agency after another as they will be able to approach the right agency for their specific need. As such having a copy of the directory will allow users to seek assistance with ease.
The information in the directory is condensed and categorised according to each constituency. This allows users to approach helping agencies that are near their residence and as such need not travel far and spend too much money on transport. The directory is light and easy to carry around unlike other directories that are heavy and bulky. It is written in simple English so that those who with little or no education are still able to refer to the directory.
The directory was featured in the Lifestyle section of Sunday Times (16th November 2008) as one of the top 5 best sellers. It was also featured in the Straits Time & Today newspaper. 10,000 copies were printed and all copies are sold. Should you wish to own a copy, you may purchase one from the Popular Bookstore.
For reference you may look up a copy at the Lee Kong Chian Reference Library location within the National Library.
Please contact NuLife office for any further queries.