Hello, Would you Like to Donate?

Listen to this article

Spent my Saturday being a volunteer for Riverlife Community Services (RCS), which is the social service of my church. Must say that I had great fun doing it and learnt lot of things from this flag day. Anyway, should I also wear the shoes of volunteers so I know how to help make my organisation's next flag day better?

I must say, despite this being the first time RCS is doing a flag day, they were quite a success at doing it. There are even things that other VWOs can even emulate...

• Firstly, upon reaching the reporting centre, I was greeted by friendly ushers who greeted us in unison
• Then there was this great banner explaining what RCS was about, definitely a good idea since volunteers can also read about the organisation they are helping and passerby can also find out more about RCS through that big banner
  
  
  
• Later, I was handed a clipboard with clear instructions on how to complete the authorisation certificate before being handed over to the counter to sign in
  
  
  
• Next, I was issued my "battle gear" consisting an A5 instruction sheet written in a friendly manner, brochures (for those who would like to find out more about RCS), lots of stickers, my certificate, my flag day tin, a big red RCS badge, biscuits and water. Already, I was feeling being cared for and somehow, there is I was beginning to identify myself as a RCS flag seller and was motivated to go out and sell the flags. On hindsight, I still do find tins better. Yes, it is heavier and much more difficult to carry around but then it is secure and the sheer weight of the tin itself can sometimes serve as a motivator to the volunteer to collect more. Nothing beats hearing the tin ring out as people donate.
  
  
  
• Then, we were ushered to a corner for briefing but this volunteer who ever smiles so radiantly. At the briefing, we were given simple instructions to follow including "smile always" (and the volunteer demonstrates), "do not sell flags in train stations, shopping malls etc and leave when asked to do so", "return by 5pm"
  
• There was also proper barricades to guide the queue
• When we returned, we were again greeted in unison and thanked several time after we submitted the tins.

Reflecting on it, all these did in fact make me feel good about volunteering and the chances of me returning is just so high. Time to start thinking about our own fundraising events at work.

Going onto the streets to serve as a volunteer was great fun too... This also made me realise a few "secrets" about doing flag day successfully as a volunteer:

• Smile, smile, smile
  Believe it or not, volunteers are the ambassadors of the charity. People seems to take to volunteers smiling genuinely better and would tend to donate. I was surprised how much people donated to my tin even though the organisation is still new. I had like a lot of $2 and even $10 notes
  
  
• Maintain good Body Language
  I can't emphasise the importance of body language here. Standing in a nonchalant way or thrusting the tin out with one hand just seems to make people avoid you. Standing with an open posture looking at everyone in the eye with both hands holding onto the tin seems to do the trick. When children donate, bend down or squat down.
  
  
• Help prepare donors/Ensure ample runway
  People tend not to donate sometimes also because they can be caught unaware. They may be coming down the escalator, turn a corner and suddenly they are expected to donate. Give donors ample runway to see you (with the name of the organisation facing them so they don't feel you are hiding something) and to reach for their donations. Standing too close to an escalator will just surprise them and frustrate others for causing an obstruction. There is an art as to where to stand... it should have ample space to not cause obstruction so donors can easily stand aside to reach for their donations, it should allow donors to see you from a distance, it should not be too wide for people to be able to put you in the middle of the parting of the red sea when they naturally walk in other directions to avoid you.
  
  
• Be Daring
  I realised how people are so willing to donate if only we asked. Several times, there were people who seemed to not have the intent to want to donate or who may have walked way past me. But they stopped, backtracked and donated when they heard me calling out "Hello, would you like to donate" again and again. This did pleasantly surprised me. Maybe it is just psychological; they felt sorry for me hahaha. One of my friends commented how difficult it is because he is afraid of being rejected. True enough, it doesn't feel good to be rejected but then I shared that it is the tin that they are rejecting, not so much us.
  
  
• Say Thank You
  I would usually genuinely utter a "thank you" regardless whether a person donates. Though not intentional, this sometimes have the effect of making the person decide to donate the next volunteer they see with the tin. In fact, I realise some donors donate but did not take the sticker. I also say thank you to people who have donated and are wearing the stickers
  
  
• Be generous
  Don't be stingy and give out only one sticker per donor. Sometimes, I bend the rule a little and also give children the stickers when they parents donate. Again, this sometimes unintentionally result in the parent also giving her children money to donate
  
  
• Be prepared to answer questions about the organisation you are supporting
  It is true that after all the recent fiasco concerning charities, the public is more discerning when it comes to donating to charity and would ask questions. Having a brochure to give out would sometimes help.
  

I do not know whether our observation is accurate or representative of the general trend but then it seems that most donors are middle-age ladies. Very few youth donate, especially those who are dressed very trendily. But there are always encouraging moments when you see parents taking the opportunity to teach their children about charity. Every fundraiser is different but we will observe very similar things.

I thank God for being so chirpy and cheerful today, so much so I was even so daring to go out to approach people to ask for donations. I would even on several occasions have some small talk with passerby. In fact, I was even able to interact with ease with my cell group friends who went with me to do flag day :)

Tagged!

Listen to this article

Aiyoh! Super overdue liaoz... was tagged by Emay ages ago but only get to blog about it now... Okie, here goes a few little known facts about myself...

Rules of the game:

1. Each player of this game starts off with ten weird things or habits or little known facts about yourself.
2. People who get tagged must write in a blog of their own ten weird things or habits or little known facts as well as state this rule clearly.
3. At the end you must choose six people to be tagged and list their names.
4. No tagbacks!

Ten Little Known Facts about Me

1. I do not know how to burp... (don't laugh!)
   
   
2. I had the embarrassing experience of eating with a group of friends (we were all in office wear) only to later realise that none of us have enough money to pay. We had to, in the end, dig out all our coins while the waiter waited at the side... how embarrassing!
   
   
3. During my social work attachment, I had the opportunity to sit in the cornor's court to read case files on suicide. We would sit at one side of the court to read the case files and sometimes, there were even court proceedings while we sat there to read. At one point, we even became adventurous and decided to have a look at the suicide photos in the case files (boy was that a stupid choice... ended up being quite traumatised by it for some time)
   
   
4. Was stopped by police who suspected me for wanting to steal cars, on the day I went to collect my "A" levels results... Was making my way back to college with a few NS friends. Halfway there, they wanted to smoke. But because they were in NS uniform, they did not want to get in trouble with the military police, so they went to a corner of a multistorey carpark to smoke. Accompanied them but when they saw a police car coming, they took flight, leaving me "blur blur" standing there... no wonder the police suspected I was trying to steal a car... Totally ruined my day but was quite an experience :) The police informed my NS commanding officer but thank God my commanding officer trusted me and told them... "if I put a pen in front of codfishy, he would not even dare to take it! (laughed)"... well made me sound like I am a scaredy cat but thank God he trusted me or I will be in deep trouble in NS. Also remember worrying for a few days if I would have a record with the police.
   
   
5. Had the opportunity to go into prison... to teach IT
   
   
6. Had the opportunity to stand beside president Nathan and I think, the then manpower minister, to demonstrate how to use a handphone camera and mms (when handphone cameras and mms first came out)
   
   
7. During another attachment, had an experience standing in front of an upset person who was holding a scissors and who was about to attack someone with it... the whole ordeal lasted for almost an hour with the psychologists trying to calm him down from the side while me and another person pinned his hands down... I later tried to calm him down by doing deep breathing exercise with him. Thank God he eventually calmed down. I didn't know what came over me to have the courage to do that but now thinking about it sometimes gives me the shivers. Also did not know how did I get the idea to do deep breathing exercise with him. But thank God that I was "saved" by that incident... had been earlier backstabbed by my fellow attachment student who accused me of stealing her research ideas and this would have greatly affected my attachment grades.
   
   
8. Experienced working in a hospital during SARS and also having one of my patient suspected of having SARS. Thank God he is OK and I am OK. But going around seeing patients in our "battle gear" comprising N95 masks, apron, gloves, disposable caps and coat and having to report location and temperature every two hours was quite an experience
   
   
9. Got stuck in a sand mine during a Geography field trip to Kota Tinggi during my JC time and experienced real bad sun burn with double heating since there was no vegetation... there were rumours going around that it was as hot as 40+ degrees celsius. Sat in a dumpster truck and had to drink the red water (filled with iron ore) from the river when our water ran out.
   
   
10. At one point in time in primary school, I had about 70 nicknames

OK now come to think of it... thank God for quite an interesting life so far...

OK, now who to tag? OK, Doreen, Adam, Hwee Kheng, George, Clement and Trina...you're tagged!