A Caring Heart

Yesterday, The Straits Times featured Mr Patrick Chan, a community volunteer in Taman Jurong.  He has a heart for youth-at-risk.  “He notes that most delinquency cases usually start off innocuously with a bit of smoking, then escalate to sniffing glue and taking drugs.  “The next thing, the kid is stealing bicycle parts, then robbing someone on the street,” he says.  “If you have a kid that drops out in Secondary 1, chances are he’s going to be in jail by the time he’s 20.  In fact, probably going to spend 10 to 20 years in jail for robbery, theft or drugs.”"

Mr Chan wants to see change in the lives of poor kids, he says “What I’d like to see is poor kids having a better chance at making it out of the bottom of society.  There’s always going to be somebody at the bottom but it doesn’t mean that if you’re been there, you’re going to stay there. That’s just wrong.”

Mr Chan is a good role model of selfless service and care for one of the most vulnerable groups of people in Singapore.  He is not just an unpaid volunteer, he is one who strives to make the lives of the needy better; one who truly cared for the down and outs.