Not every 22-year-old gets to collaborate with the National Youth Council (NYC) and Temasek Trust in volunteering work. Fewer still, get featured on The Straits Times and receive a commendation by People’s Association for it.

But that’s been Emily Yap’s story, whose passion for small acts of kindness has made a world of difference in her sphere of influence. We sat down with the young volunteer to find out what fuels the service.

Growing up, I’ve always seen my mum being active and passionate in giving back to the community.

She wanted to join the neighbourhood committee to help me make new friends, and for us to create nice memories together.

For instance, there was once my mum dressed me up in a costume to participate in some community event. But she accidentally created two extra holes at my armpit area along the sleeves, and so I had to go on stage with my armpits exposed.

A lot of my friends had a good laugh about it, even my mum too – she thought it was hilarious.

But since then, I’ve been following my mum to neighbourhood committee events once every month. And every December, we would help out in Christmas charity events for the disabled at Takashimaya.

My very first solo volunteering stint happened when I was 12 years old. I was an emcee at Dunearn Neighbourhood Committee’s Easter event.

Public speaking is not what would get most children saying, “Yeah, I’m totally for it! I’m so prepared!”

But my mum kept encouraging me. She told me to imagine being confident like Oprah Winfrey. And I was.

I realised that I do have this power within me to help others and impact other people’s lives.

Then I started helping out at St. Theresa’s Home. I would join elderly folks around the table, talk to them and paint with them. And as they painted, I bonded with them.

There was this little old lady who told me that I was like the granddaughter she never had. I thought it was just a passing comment but when we went back there again for another event, she actually remembered me.

I was touched because I didn’t think I was anybody. For her to remember me, I felt that I must have had an impact on her life.

That sparked something in me. From that day onwards, I realised that I do have this power within me to help others and impact other people’s lives.

SMALL IDEA, BIG SACRIFICE

Volunteering work is not easy. I think people like to portray volunteering or doing community work as something that’s very fun and enjoyable, but planning it is definitely stressful because in the end you are dealing with money and other people’s lives.

To be able to do it correctly and properly, it needs a lot of proper planning.

I experienced this first-hand when I planned a campaign by myself for the first time last year. When the Singapore government raised the risk level to DORSCON Orange last March, everybody panicked and ran to the supermarket.

At that point in time, my grandma was 82. She was the one who did our family’s grocery shopping. But she could not go to the supermarket and compete with strong adults and queue for hours.

I thought to myself, “If my grandma has that issue, how about those who are not financially stable? How would they feel?”

I saw that there was a need waiting to be met. And since I couldn’t hang out with my friends anymore due to the circuit breaker, I decided I wanted to use my spare time to do something about it.

That was when I saw in the newspaper that the government was putting funds into the NYC’s Young ChangeMakers Grant.

I signed up for the grant, proposed to them my idea of delivering groceries with MINDS to needy families during the COVID-19 pandemic.

These families, who live in rental flats, are on short-term ComCare assistance, which means they have a maximum household income of $1,900 — or $650 a person — each month.

Surprisingly, NYC believed in my idea and approved it.

As a novice event planner, I didn’t really know what I was signing up for. All I knew was that I had this need that I had to fulfil and meet.

And because it was the first event that I had to plan by myself, it was hard. The minute details were crazy – I didn’t think that there was so much planning to be done.

Juggling school work and the planning was also very difficult. I had to make sacrifices. There were days when I had to reschedule plans with my friends or sleep a little less to either plan or carry out these charity projects.

FOOTPRINTS IN THE SAND

Although it’s not easy, I always like to look back to Philippians 2:3-4 which says: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”

While I grew up in a Christian household, my Christian faith wasn’t the strongest back then. It just felt like a routine.

But in polytechnic, I went through a very bad breakup. I was very lost, and I felt very alone. I also pushed a lot of my friends away.

One night, I prayed and told God, “If you love me, can you just please do show me a sign?”

The next thing I knew, my friend texted to ask me out for a church service. I was like, “Oh this is You, God. This is You talking through my friend.”

So I went for the service. And then the pastor said, “List down all the bad traits you have and write a zero next to it. If you see all those zeros, you feel like you’re worth nothing, because zeros are worthless. But God is that one to give you value.”

After that, they sang the song, “As You Find Me“.

God spoke to me through the song. I felt that I was not worthy of His love because I’d done so many bad things and I hadn’t really been going to church – I was physically there, but not spiritually.

I felt bad but God assured me that I was worthy of His love through my friend and the pastor.

Thereafter, I had a community of friends that really impacted my life. I just felt so special.

It was like that poem about footprints in the sand. I may have felt like I was alone but God was carrying me all along.

LITTLE DEEDS, GREAT LOVE

I want to continue to spread this joy I had from God. That is one big reason why I volunteer.

While these charity projects may seem like small acts of kindness, they mean the world to the beneficiaries.

For example, during the delivery of groceries with MINDS to needy families during the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a little girl who gave me a flying kiss to thank me.

Seeing that smile on her face made every sacrifice worth it.

A lot of them felt as if they had to fight their battles alone. By helping them purchase the bare necessities, it can really go a long way to help lighten their financial constraints.

As a child, I had this ideal that I would impact the world and many people’s lives. But now that I’m more mature, I’ve realised that the numbers don’t really matter. As long as you’re able to just impact one person’s life, I feel like that’s good enough.

Besides, it’s not so much about how many lives you can impact through one act.

It’s not the power of the water that cuts through the rock, but the persistent flow that does it.

Emily is collaborating with MINDS for another round of grocery deliveries to 20 needy families affected by the tightened COVID-19 measures. The initiative will take place in June 2021 and she is currently seeking volunteers who can help consolidate the care packs. Interested parties may email her mum at [email protected] with the title: “Groceries Care Packs”.

UPDATE: Due to the heightened restrictions, Emily will be ordering groceries from NTUC delivery instead for the school staff to pack and distribute to the 20 needy students. You may get in touch with Emily’s mum at [email protected] if you would like to donate groceries to MINDS. They will only be accepting non-perishable, non-refrigerated and non-breakable items only.