Budget 2020 to promote volunteerism: Indranee
Minister says upcoming Budget will also help seniors with retirement needs
There will be initiatives in the upcoming Budget to promote volunteerism and help seniors with their retirement needs, said Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Indranee Rajah.
She spoke to reporters about the Budget yesterday after visiting RSVP Singapore, an organisation for senior volunteers founded in 1998.
"Our aim for older Singaporeans is really to lead fulfilling lives at every stage of life," she said. "We will certainly have something in the Budget to promote volunteerism across the board, but we will also be looking to see what we can do for seniors. We also want to make sure that retirees have assurance in retirement."
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat will deliver the Budget statement in Parliament on Feb 18.
Ms Indranee, who is Second Minister for Finance and Education, added that the Government will look at how to make it easier for people to volunteer.
"The other thing is to help connect those who want to volunteer with the kind of causes or purposes that they would like to do," said Ms Indranee.
Volunteering has changed Mr Gurdip Singh's outlook on retirement. The 67-year-old sold his luggage shop in 2013 after 41 years, travelled around the world with his wife for two years and realised that he had no purpose in his retirement.
He then looked online for volunteering opportunities and found RSVP Singapore. In 2015, he began volunteering as a senior ambassador at Changi Airport, where he acts as a walking information counter of sorts, among other things.
He now volunteers three days a week, but not on the weekends or when he takes care of his three grandchildren.
He said: "Now it's become a knowledge learning journey for me. I don't just volunteer to pass my time. I actually volunteer to learn something new."
Mr Singh is among more than 2,500 volunteers with RSVP Singapore who participate in its befriending, guiding, training or episodic volunteering programmes that benefit more than 200,000 people yearly.
Last year, the organisation partnered the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth to grow senior volunteerism in Singapore, as part of the SG Cares movement, with a target to reach out to 30,000 seniors between September last year and September this year.
The organisation has engaged more than 10,000 senior citizens so far, said RSVP Singapore chairman Koh Juay Meng.
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