Dialect speaking volunteers are needed to spread awareness of the Pioneer Generation Package to seniors, a Chinese self-help group said on Sunday.

The Chinese Development Assistance Council (CDAC) hopes to recruit "a few hundred" such volunteers by the end of the year, said the group's head of volunteer arm Baey Yam Keng.

These volunteers will help organise a series of dialogues to explain the package to the seniors, many of whom understand only dialects.

Although the self-help group already has several thousand volunteers on its roll, it is the first time it is starting a drive to specifically recruit dialect speaking volunteers for a project.

Mr Baey said that the CDAC has been able to attract bilingual volunteers who are mostly younger, so it hopes to get draw older adults who may not have volunteered before.

To do so, it is teaming up with the Singapore Federation of Chinese Clan Associations (SFCCA), the umbrella body of over 200 clan associations, to draw volunteers from clan association members.

On Sunday, about 700 volunteers from the CDAC and SFCCA took some 500 seniors to Gardens by the Bay for a visit and lunch at a Chinese restaurant. It is the second time both groups joined hands for such a community project but SFCCA president Chua Thian Poh said it will be made an annual affair.