Doing your part in charity is easy. All you need to do is to type the word charity in Google Search and countless websites will appear.
Most, if not all will end with a page asking for some form of financial donations. Just click the amount you wish to donate, transfer it via internet banking and viola your charity work is done.
Finance is undoubtedly the lifeline of every charity home. But so is the appropriate care for its residents. After all, they are the very reason for the home’s existence.
Keeping the residents alive is just not enough. It is about making their lives more meaningful. It is on this premise that a retired couple founded Caring Soul in 2010.
Caring Soul’s tagline “colouring lives” was mooted with the idea of recruiting volunteers who were willing to impart their time to make a difference to the lives of the needy.
The financial aspect of the homes are best left to the many responsible corporate citizens, associations and religious bodies that are properly registered within the context of the country’s laws governing funds raising and donations.
The founding couple of Caring Soul started with one volunteer who was a hair stylist. Offering free hair cuts provided a good excuse for the founders to open doors to old folks homes, handicapped homes and orphanages.
As time passed more volunteers began to join Caring Soul. Many of them were housewives who has the compassion to do charity work but hindered by lack of resources and a proper platform to execute their passion.
They were eventually given some basic training in hair cutting. Armed with this basic skill and equipped with their own hair cutting tools, they were able to provide free hair cutting services to residents of various homes.
With that, opportunities arose for them to mingle around with the residents, either offering a listening ear to their woes or a compassionate shoulder for them to cry on.
Caring Soul’s hair cutting activities eventually evolved into singing and dancing sessions with the old folks during festive seasons. It also expanded to cooking some of their favourite dishes from time to time to brighten up their otherwise recurring menu.
Today, Caring Soul has close to 50 volunteers, most of whom are consistent with their voluntary work. It is a good number to have because a full attendance is never possible. Furthermore, charity haircuts or cooking for the residents will require no more than 10 volunteers at a time to avoid over crowding in any event.
Over the years, it is comforting to witness the compassionate side of the volunteers slowly but surely growing in them. What used to be a group of shy housewives have turned to become a joyful group that reaches out to the hearts of the needy in various forms - from singing and dancing with them to kneeling down to cut the toe nails of elderly folks.
We can proudly say that Caring Soul has lived up to its tag line of colouring lives, not only to the needy but also to its volunteers.