By Sarah Jaslin Lee (18S03D), Chairperson

Service, but with a twist! If you believe that Red Cross Youth Chapter (RCYC) is a uniformed group, you couldn’t be more wrong. As one of the four service CCAs in Raffles, RCYC will provide you with various opportunities to be involved in serving your community. What distinguishes RCYC is the life-saving skills that we equip you with, which is always handy because you never know when you need it! If you are a passionate and sincere individual looking for the opportunity to make an impact on those around you, you have come to the right place.

When you first join RCYC, you start off with weekly service sessions of your choice, on top of weekly CCA sessions on Wednesday, 2pm–3pm. You can choose to work with any group in our community, be it the disadvantaged, children, or the elderly. We currently work with NKF and Good Shepherd Student Care, but your batch can always choose new organisations to work with! Thereafter, besides weekly meet-ups to plan for any internal activities, you will also go to your service centres for weekly service on a regular basis.  

While you may think that going for service after a long, tiring day of school is the last thing you would want to do, hearing the laughter of the children you are interacting with or seeing an elderly patient’s face light up when you ask them about their day makes everything worthwhile. After weeks of service, we have realized that the mere process of building a relationship with those we serve is so precious that even the simple act of talking to them makes a greater impact on their lives than we think.

As part of the Red Cross family, you can also expect to be part of our annual Blood Drives and Bone Marrow donation programme. Every member will be involved in the planning and execution of these events, which not only serves as a platform for fostering stronger ties within the CCA but also to involve the school in the process of giving back to society.

Besides our school-based activities, there are also international service opportunities provided by the Red Cross HQ. For instance, the Overseas Humanitarian Programme is an international service where interested members go to countries such as the Philippines and Indonesia to educate school children on hygiene as well as to organise cultural activities for them. Not only that, volunteers can also help to paint schools and provide logistical support! If you’re looking to spend your time meaningfully by helping our friends overseas, you can start here with Red Cross.

There are also countless opportunities to serve as a first aider in the community setting!

Then, there is Project Rice, a HQ event where you can help pack and distribute food items to beneficiaries island-wide.

To sum up, here’s what you can expect:

1. Weekly service at your chosen service centre
2. First-aid exposure
3. Planning and execution of first-aid related activities in school

There are no prerequisites to being a RCYC member – as long as you have a heart to learn and to serve, we welcome you!

If you want first-hand exposure to First Aid, and if you would like to find out more about us, here is your opportunity! We are holding a first aid workshop during the January Induction Programme, so do come down then for a time of fun and learning.