Bringing Love to Every Single Soul (Bless) was launched in 2014 by National University of Singapore students and alumni under the guidance of their professors.
Founder Francesca Wah, 25, saw the power of a community's resources in 2014 when she tried to raise funds for Children's Day presents. She wanted to bring joy to 120 children, but in just two days, friends pooled enough money to buy more than 300 gifts.
This made her realise that there were more than enough resources out there to help people from low-income families.
She decided to start Bless, a non-profit organisation.
The volunteer-run group has two other programmes aimed at mobilising community resources to benefit the larger community:
- Bringing Love to Every Small Soul gifts children from low-income families with essentials and birthday cakes; and
- Bringing Love to Every Single Stranger teaches primary school pupils through a values-in-practice programme.
Bless works with voluntary welfare organisations and family service centres to identify neighbourhoods that would benefit from the Bringing Learning to Every Shining Star programme.
In 2015, they partnered with South West CDC to scale up the efforts under the Adopt-a-Rental Block scheme.
The scheme addresses three core needs of vulnerable, elderly and needy families: social wellness, healthcare, and home safety and improvement.
Abigail Ng
