Bukit Panjang SSO reaches out to new clients in need
A Social Service Office (SSO) at Bedok North Road. The Bukit Panjang centre is Singapore’s 16th SSO. TODAY file photo
SINGAPORE — Less than two months into its operations, the Social Service Office (SSO) in Bukit Panjang has already reached out to more than 100 needy residents who have never sought help from other SSOs.
The new centre at Block 232, Pending Road, which opened officially yesterday, is Singapore’s 16th SSO. Needy individuals can seek financial assistance, counselling and get help with finding a job, among other things.
Of the 387 clients it has served, about one-third were new cases who had not visited SSOs in the vicinity, such as in Choa Chu Kang and Woodlands, SSO@Bukit Panjang’s general manager Ida Iryanee Nooraman said yesterday.
About four in five of all clients were seeking financial assistance, she added.
The SSO has also partnered the Workforce Development Agency to offer job matching and career counselling services. Another team will look into identifying social service gaps to offer new services or programmes together with Family Service Centres, voluntary welfare organisations, self-help groups and religious organisations, added Ms Ida.
“We’ll be walking the ground, talking to residents, service users (and) service providers to see what are the things we can come in to help (with) and coordinate social service delivery in the town,” she said.
Yesterday, Member of Parliament Teo Ho Pin noted that SSOs had helped more than 500 cases involving needy families from his Bukit Panjang ward last year, forming the majority of such cases in the North West District.
The new SSO will be able to provide a suite of services by bringing in community partners who specialise in different areas, added Dr Teo, who is also Mayor of the North West District.
It will try to increase the number of community befrienders this year, from the current 65 to 100, to reach out to the increasing number of elderly residents in the town, he said.
Mr Idrus Osman, who suffers from heart disease and is unemployed, has been volunteering as a community befriender for more than a year. Recounting a case where he helped arrange food delivery services for a resident who was crippled from stroke and surviving on biscuits and bread, Mr Idrus said he stays motivated to volunteer because he knows there are others worse off than him.
Social and Family Development Minister Chan Chun Sing, who was at the launch yesterday, said the goal of SSOs is not only to provide financial assistance, but to encourage needy families to become self-reliant — a task that requires the help of all community partners.
“It’s about giving them the opportunities to upgrade themselves, find better jobs (and) help them better manage some of their family issues,” he said.
“That’s why one of the roles of the SSO, beyond helping the needy families, is to round up all the community partners ... so that everyone ... can mobilise resources at the local community level to make a difference to the lives of our residents.”
