The New Year is a time when many people welcome the fresh start with ambitious personal challenges .
The Straits Times speaks to three individuals with New Year's resolutions that embody a wider purpose - from helping kidney patients to reaching out to inmates and saving the environment.
Not buying new clothes for a greener earth
This year, undergraduate Pamela Low wants to go on a diet.
It is not sugar and carbs that the 22-year-old wants to consume less of though, but disposables.
The environmentally-conscious student already carries around a reusable bag for her shopping, and her own bottle and container when buying food and drink for take-out.
He wants to end bias against convicts
The festive season is a period for people to take a break, but former inmate Michael Teoh has been spending time thinking about helping others with a similar past to his.
His New Year's resolution is to help more people in prison and halfway houses. For those released from jail, he wants to help them transition to society. Problems they face include finding jobs and a home, as well as mending relationships with their loved ones, he said.
Doc to ride 1,200km for kidney patients
As a senior consultant renal physician at Singapore General Hospital, Dr Terence Kee, 47, treats about 20 to 25 kidney transplant patients every day.
However, when his 76-year-old father - who had suffered from kidney failure for three years - died in August last year, Dr Kee resolved to do more for his patients.
