It was life in the United States that opened Singaporean Nilofar Iyer's eyes to the needs of the underprivileged.

While in Pennsylvania with her husband in 2014 for a year, the housewife was struck by the level of poverty and juvenile delinquency in some neighbourhoods.

Teenagers and children would hang around drinking or flirting with one another even during school hours.

"It bothered me that nobody seemed to be doing anything about it, and I couldn't do much either since I am not a citizen and was not going to be there for a long time," said Mrs Iyer, 47. Her husband was there for his work in finance.

When she returned to Singapore a year later, she was determined to seek out and help underprivileged families here.

The volunteer docent with the National Museum of Singapore recruited like-minded friends to set up non-profit organisation Helping and Empowering Our Neighbours late last year.

The group focuses on families and partners larger social service organisations like Beyond Social Services and the Asian Women's Welfare Association (Awwa) to plan and carry out ad hoc activities, such as museum visits, cooking classes and beach cleanups, for their beneficiaries.

The idea is to expose them to heritage and culture, and to occupy their time meaningfully, she said.

Mrs Iyer said her group of 40 volunteers includes members of the expatriate community.