Building a caring and inclusive society

Mr Joseph Preston, Lions International President
Mr Leslie Yong, BBM(L), District Governor
Lions Dignitaries
Club Presidents, members and friends,

1. I’m very happy to join you for this Joint Installation of Lions Club Presidents and Cabinet Officers. So let me start firstly by welcoming all our friends from overseas as I heard some of you came from afar, particularly our International President. So I think we should give a round of applause once again for our overseas friends. Secondly, I also want to extend my warmest congratulations to all our newly installed Presidents and Cabinet Officers.

2. As you heard just now, the Lions Club of Singapore is fifty-five years old. You’re older than Singapore itself. Singapore will celebrate our 50 years of independence next year. So Lions Club has already had 55 years of history. For more than five decades, you have been providing quality care and services for the needy and our community. You have been playing an important role in building a culture of giving in Singapore, by reaching out and improving the lives of thousands of elderly and under-privileged households.

3. All of you have also been a major force for social good through the years. You’ve done this through many activities, including helping the elderly, the youth, the visually-impaired and the hearing-impaired, as well as through your fundraising activities. And your work has been growing from strength to strength. Just ten years ago, there were only 45 Lions Clubs. Today there are more than 70 Lions Clubs around Singapore, centres  for the elderly, and a network of 1,100 Lions Befrienders Volunteers. And as you heard from your District Governor earlier, now you have a plan to increase that even further. So I think that the work you do is highly commendable and I would like to thank you for your relentless efforts in building a cohesive and caring society in Singapore. Thank you all of you very much.
   

Working together to make a difference in the community

4. The Lions Club Singapore is exemplary when it comes to rallying concerned citizens to step out of their comfort zones to put ideas into action. By working together, you have helped to promote a more active citizenry, where fellow Singaporeans show a sense of duty to one another.

5. For example, the network of Lions Befrienders volunteers reach out to more than 12,000 elderly who have limited or no family support. Your weekly visits to provide friendship, attend to their physical well-being, and you help them integrate into the community, all this will enable them to enjoy a better quality of life in their silver years.

6. The Lions Club is not only good at ground up community action, but also in driving positive change through collaborations and partnerships.

7. One example is how you run your Senior Activity Centre. I understand you’ve recently opened your 6th Senior Activity Centre at Tampines to reach out to the seniors in the area. And these Centres also regularly engage and work with other community groups, including grassroots and non-profit groups to organise outings for the seniors there. So it is a good way of networking and multiplying your efforts, not doing things just within your own organisations but working with others.

8. Another example, of Lions Clubs working well with like-minded partners is the Lions Save Sight Centre, and it does good work to prevent blindness, and improve eye health and eye care. The centre is helmed by doctors who have undergone specialised training at the Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC). So they contribute as visiting consultants, supported by a team of experienced nurses and allied health staff.

9. I also understand some Lions Clubs also regularly work with the grassroots organisations to deliver free meals to vulnerable households and seniors living alone. Other Lions Clubs collaborate with the Community Clubs to organise mass luncheons and dinners as a special treat for the seniors.

10. These are just some examples and I’m sure there are many other stories that they can share and there are many different ways which all of you have collaborated and with different partners in the community. You’ve showed that we can all work together, across organisations and sectors, to make a difference in the community, to make a difference in our society.

11. The Government will also do more to build a fair and inclusive society in Singapore. We are spending more on social programmes, particularly in areas like healthcare, and our spending in this area has increased quite significantly over the years and will continue to increase in the coming years. We are strengthening our social safety nets, and paying particular attention to vulnerable Singaporeans, including low-wage workers and our elderly.

12. But we cannot think about a fair and inclusive society purely in government spending or policy terms. It is not just about government spending more. It must involve the community – to engage the human spirit, to provide personal fulfilment and to strengthen collective well-being. And it must strengthen the culture of responsibility for one another, so that we all feel a duty to one another and not just a right to the benefits of citizenship.
    

Contributing actively to building a better Singapore

13. So I’m glad that this is a calling that all of you have gathered together for as Lions Club members. I think that there are many opportunities for you to do your work, particularly as we enter into our 50th anniversary next year. We have many plans, many initiatives. The government has also set up the SG50 Celebration Fund, providing organisations and individuals who have some ideas that they would like to initiate or some programmes or activities which they would like to do next year. They can tap on the Fund, make an application, and there would be resources to be provided for you and your organisation, to organise something to celebrate our nation’s birthday together.

14. We have also in SG50, launched a Care and Share Movement, because we do not want our nation’s 50th anniversary only to be a celebration and party for ourselves. We also want a way of showing our care and concern for one another. So as part of our SG50 celebration, we also have a Care and Share Movement, where a nationwide fund-raising, a nationwide movement to mobilise even more volunteers. This is something that’s happening across different groups where you raise funds for an organisation in the social services sector and the government will match it dollar-for-dollar basis and we’ve pledge $250million for this exercise. So there are more funds, more resources going into social services and I believe that next year in our Golden Jubilee, there will be many opportunities to do more and also to celebrate our anniversary.

Conclusion

15. In conclusion, I would like to reaffirm the role of the Lions Club in Singapore. Through its many contributions, it has become an integral part of the support network in our community.

16. All of you are here today because you have a heart for serving. You have taken an interest in causes beyond yourselves and have taken active steps to get involved in the community.

17. This is exactly what a fair and inclusive society is built upon – people who are driven by compassion, conviction and passion to pursue a higher calling, to build a better society for all of us.

18. On this note, it leaves me to congratulate the Lions on the installation of the 79 Club Presidents and its club officers. I am confident that under the capable leadership of your DG Leslie Yong and his cabinet officers, District 308-A1 will enjoy another year of excellence in your service to the community.

19. Thank you very much and have a very enjoyable evening!