Caption for the cover photo
From L to R: Mr Shanvas Vijay, President, Sree Narayana Mission (Singapore), Ms Marieke Bink, Chief Executive Officer, Cycling Without Age, , Mr Edwin Tong, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Law and Ministry of Health, Mr Michael Shearer, Board Member, Cycling Without Age, Mr S Devendran, Chief Executive Officer, Sree Narayana Mission (Singapore) and Mr Chandran Nair, Vice-President, Sree Narayana Mission (Singapore).
Sree Narayana Mission (SNM) has embarked on a partnership with Cycling Without Age Singapore (CWA) that will see trained youth volunteers piloting trishaws with SNM Nursing Home’s elderly residents around the Nee Soon and Sembawang neighbourhood. In addition to exploring the area with them, will also get to better know these residents.
Seated from L to R- : Ms Marieke Bink, Chief Executive Officer, Cycling Without Age and Mr S Devendran, Chief Executive Officer, Sree Narayana Mission (Singapore). Looking on are from L to R – Mr Michael Shearer, Board Member, Cycling Without Age, Mr Edwin Tong, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Law and Ministry of Health and Mr Shanvas Vijay, President, Sree Narayana Mission (Singapore)
With most of their time spent indoors, the home’s residents welcome this new activity into their lives. “I always look forward to activities that take me outdoors. This programme will help me to better explore my neighbourhood and see how things are coming along. It is also a very different and interesting way to interact with volunteers,” shared Mdm Pungavanam d/o Krishnan, 77, resident at SNM for over five years.
Mr Shanavas Vijayan, President of Sree Narayana Mission (Singapore), sees this as an excellent way to keep residents cognitively and socially active. He said, “This partnership with CWA provides our residents with a unique opportunity to break away from their daily routine. It gives them something fresh and exciting to look forward to. The conversations they will have with the volunteers during these rides will be very different from their usual interactions.”
This intergenerational initiative, the ‘Temasek Foundation Cares – Moving Generations’ is a programme by Cycling Without Age Singapore (CWA) and funded by Temasek Cares Foundation. It was launched by President Halimah Yacob in August.
Introduced to CWA by AIC, SNMNH is the first of two nursing homes to work with CWA on this initiative.