PSSA 2006 - Informal Group Award Winner

NUS Students’ Union Volunteer Action Committee (NVAC)

Since its establishment in 1990, the NUS Students’ Union Volunteer Action Committee (NVAC) has grown from having just one programme to eight regular programmes today.

It has a group of over 350 volunteers who help out at their local and overseas programmes and at ad-hoc events. Admirably, the committee is entirely run by students. The groups that the NVAC help, range from the intellectually disabled, disadvantaged youths and the mentally ill. Members are fully briefed on the clients and services provided by the Voluntary Welfare Organisations (VWOs) to ensure they understand their needs.

One regular service activity that NVAC conducts is its weekly volunteering sessions with the Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (MINDS). Volunteers conduct art & craft, music and learning sessions that are geared towards the progressive development of the beneficiaries, which complement their academic curricula.

Another on-going project is the HOPE Digital programme that was started in 2004. The Programme aims to empower disadvantaged youth with basic computer training. Four VWOs have joined this programme and 22 NVAC volunteers are involved every week.

NVAC volunteers also provide assistance to the National University Hospital and Institute of Mental Health through befriending patients and providing emotional support to them. In addition, NVAC has been helping the Boys Town and Moral Welfare Home since 1998, by giving tuition to the inmates at Boys Town, and providing befriending services to the residents at the Home.

Another regular service programme is aimed at increasing awareness of HIV and AIDS thru’ working with the Communicable Disease Centre. NVAC also works with youth offenders from two VWOs to motivate and encourage them. This new programme, which began in 2006, is part of the Yellow Ribbon Project.

Other PSSA 2005 winners: