The Boys’ Brigade (BB) Share-A-Gift is a community service project that I’ve been supporting for many years now, first as a teacher-in-charge of BB in the school I was teaching in, then as a BB officer, and now with my family. We make it a point to take the kids to buy food items for donation to the project and to explain to them who gets the food and why they need it. Last year, we also delivered food hampers and we took part in the delivery this time around as well.

When we reported for our delivery duty last Sunday, we were quite irritated by the lack of order. It wasn’t clear which gate we were supposed to drive in by so cars were trying to enter and exit at the same time. There was a van blocking the driveway even though it had a reserved car park lot and there were several volunteers standing around obstructing traffic. We didn’t know who or where we were supposed to report to and there was no one to help us load the bags. I was a bit unhappy about all this because the project has been going on for about 25 years and a clear system should be in place so as not to waste volunteers’ time and efforts.

At the end of the day, although things could have been better run, I think it’s important to focus on the aims of the project. BB Share-A-Gift reaches out to many needy people in Singapore and it promotes the spirit of caring for and sharing with others.

While we were doing our delivery, one lady returned her food hamper to us. She said that even though her husband had had a stroke and could not work, she was still fortunate to have a job and could earn enough to sustain the two of them. And since the husband and wife were vegetarians, many of the items in the food hamper would not be consumed by them. She wanted us to give the food hamper to someone who needed it more than she did. It was a humbling lesson in graciousness for me.

So I will continue to support this project and I hope that other Singaporeans, regardless of race or religion, will do so as well. You can still make donations, online or otherwise, and volunteer to deliver food hampers. Have a Heart; Share a Gift.