So, the 56-year-old created Wheels of Hope, a project that supplies needy and disabled Singaporeans with refurbished wheelchairs, crutches and hospital beds.

The programme has helped over 1,000 people since 2006, and yesterday it clinched one of Singapore's top honours for community work, the New Non-profit Initiative Award.

It was was one of four National Volunteerism & Philanthropy awards handed out during a ceremony on Thursday night.

'(This) is an award for our volunteers,' said Madam Lye, the co-founder of the Kampung Senang Charity & Education Foundation, which runs Wheels of Hope.

The project has helped the elderly, cancer patients and the disabled, among others. It also recycles about 470 pieces of medical equipment annually.

One full-time staff member runs the programme, whose lifeblood is its 45 regular volunteers. They go through six weeks of training in the technical aspects of cleaning, repairing and refurbishing equipment, mostly wheelchairs.

The volunteers are recruited through word of mouth and include probationers, youths, housewives and even beneficiaries of other projects.

Still, the foundation is appealing for more help. It is hoping to double its Wheels of Hope volunteer base to over 100. It is also short of 300 volunteers for a flag day next month.

Another winner also said attracting and retaining volunteers remains a challenge.

The Samaritans of Singapore, which clinched an award for excellence in recruiting and training volunteers, said it needs 20 per cent more volunteers to ease the burden on its current pool of 230.

Trained volunteers take hotline calls and counsel those in crisis, putting in three to four hours each week with monthly overnight duties. The work can be hard, and a nine-month training regimen makes it even more difficult to attract volunteers.

But a flexible schedule for its 24-hour hotline and regular chats with volunteers has helped the organisation keep its attrition rate at 17 per cent yearly. That is an improvement over the past when the rate was about 24 per cent. As of 2007, 35 per cent of volunteers have served at least six years, said executive director Christine Wong.

She said the organisation was proud of those who donate their time. 'They face a lot of grave issues that people don't want to look at, like death and dying.'

YMCA Singapore won the Outstanding Non-profit Organisation Award. The group believes in providing a 'career path' - including identifying capable volunteers and giving them more responsibilities - said president Eric Teng.

The final honour, the Corporate Citizen Award for Volunteerism, went to brokerage firm Merill Lynch. The company has adopted four charities and its employees form sub-committees to organise events for each group. It also runs a longer-term reading project for children, said chief executive officer Martina Wong.

All the winners received their trophies from Minister of Community Development, Youth and Sports Vivian Balakrishnan at an award ceremony on Thursday night.