- Community Give-Back programme in its third year
- 150 BT BAF beneficiaries with 125 children and youth impacted positively from programme
- For third year, loyal supporter Certis donates $20,000 to sustain equipping the next generation with future-ready skills
- BT BAF youth lead and facilitate tech workshops for young children
- Guest-of-Honour Low Yen Ling, Minister of State, Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth & Ministry for Trade and Industry
6 December 2021 – Asia’s leading advanced integrated security services provider Certis partners The Business Times Budding Artists Fund (BT BAF) for the third year running in this series of annual give-back activities. Comprising art and digital technology workshops, the Community Give-Back programme 2021 launches this afternoon with BT BAF youth leading a coding session together with Certis employees for children under the care of Yayasan MENDAKI.
The Community Give-Back programme aims to inculcate the spirit of giving back, with a focus on equipping disadvantaged children and youth with resilience and the ability to adapt in unpredictable environments, traits necessary to thrive in times of rapid change.
Community Give-Back was launched in 2019 and has since seen 100 Certis employees engage 150 BT BAF children and youth over the last three years. To date, they have led 125 children from five volunteer welfare organisations (VWOs) in various craft activities, helping them learn to use mobile apps to create simple stop-motion videos of their creations, to playing an experiential game via Zoom.
Ms Low Yen Ling, Minister of State, Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth & Ministry for Trade and Industry, will deliver a pre-recorded address as the Guest-of-Honour at the virtual launch.
Mr Tan Toi Chia, Chief Corporate and Human Resources Officer, Certis, said: “We are pleased to present the third edition of the Community Give-Back programme with The Business Times Budding Artists Fund. The current climate still remains challenging for the emotional and well-being of our children and youth. We remain committed to engage and support our children and youth with meaningful activities that spur learning and growth. My colleagues are very motivated in doing their part to help those in need and we will continue to inspire each other to give back to our communities.”
The youth facilitators are currently enrolled in arts programmes supported by BT BAF, an arts education fund managed by charity arts organisation TRCL that provides free arts education to empower disadvantaged children and youth with artistic skills, purpose and passion for the arts.
To kick-off the launch of the Community Give Back programme, 40 staff and management volunteers from Certis and BT BAF beneficiaries will befriend and engage with 15 beneficiaries from MENDAKI to code a maze game using the online platform, CoSpaces.
Mdm Zuraidah Abdullah, Chief Executive Officer of Yayasan MENDAKI said: “Through this programme, our children are able to learn new skills such as coding and befriend Certis volunteers. This experience would teach and inspire our beneficiaries to give back to the community in the future. We hope more organisations are encouraged to partner MENDAKI on volunteering and lifelong learning programmes in our efforts in building a community of success.”
Certis employees will come alongside the children and the youth to assist in the various activities, befriending and spending time with them. The first workshop will take place on Monday 6 December, followed by two more workshops set to take place during the March and June school holidays next year. These three workshops under the Community Give-Back programme will see around 100 children from VWOs engaged in creative sessions led by BT BAF student trainers.
Ms Nor Azizah, Acting Head, Arts and Community Development, TRCL, said: “We believe that it is important for our children and youth to do their part to contribute to the community and know that they can make a difference in someone else’s life. We want them to cultivate values such as empathy and gratitude at a young age so that they may learn to pay it forward.”
The next generation has been enriched by the opportunity to lead those younger than themselves. Adam Risam Kou, 14, a tech+art student who taught caricature drawing at last year’s workshops, says: “I love teaching the children how to make their art come alive. I’m looking forward to meeting new faces this year and sharing my love for art with them.”
Certis is donating $20,000 towards BT BAF as a presenter of the programme.