Welcome to BA Community And Reachout EndeavourS (CARES).

BA CARES is the community outreach arm of the School of Business and Accountancy, and we operate somewhat like a club. Only BA students are eligible to be members, and membership has its privileges. We will tell you more about the privileges later.

BA CARES caters to your holistic development - body, mind and soul; or head, heart and hands. Our programmes and projects bring you to places, both in Singapore and beyond. You have the opportunity to lead projects, develop your gifts and talents, initiate new programmes, negotiate with sponsors, or just be a member participating in the activities organised.

BA CARES (Local), as its name implies, reaches out to the local communities in Singapore. In the semester of June 2004, we had two mass outreaches. On July 31, about 125 students were involved in distributing food items to the needy at the Queenstown area, a joint project with Queenstown Care Corner. Though it was a stormy day, our BA CARES volunteers brought cheer to the residents when they knocked on their doors. On Sept 11, about 65 students combed the Toh Yi estate to collect newspapers and recyclable items. It was a drive to raise funds to set up a Baby Room at the Andrew and Grace Home, one of our adopted charities. You can read more about these 2 activities on the website.

In the coming semester, we are planning to have even more exciting activities. In the pipeline will be another food distribution project, as we intend to return to Queenstown to bless the residents during the Christmas Season. We are also planning to participate in a Triathlon, a joint event with the Andrew and Grace Home, as well as have another newspaper drive, perhaps? But we can only do all of these with your support and initiatives.

BA CARES (Local) also had other smaller scale projects like reaching out to the teens at the Muhammadiyah Welfare Home (MWH) in the East Coast. A group of students have been going down on Saturday mornings to conduct life-skill courses to the boys and girls of MWH. 18 first-year BA students completed a 6-session course with the home. And they intend to return in the coming semester with more lessons, and are even thinking of organizing other activities with the teens.

Some of the students who returned from the SERVE SABAH 2004 overseas community service trip spent some Saturdays with reformative trainees from the Prison Aftercare Supervision Section of the Singapore Prisons Service. They played football, and had a wild time at Pulau Ubin, with the intention of befriending them and helping them re-integrate back into society.

During the November holidays, a group of BA students went to paint and set up a Baby Room at the Andrew and Grace Home. Andrew (from Andrew and Grace Home) decided to set up the Baby Room after he found a dead baby in a rubbish chute by accident when he passed by a HDB Estate one day. The room will serve as a place of solace for the unwed mothers as they prepare to deliver the babies.

BA CARES (Overseas) sends teams of students to neighbouring countries on community service projects. So far, we have been to Cambodia, Thailand and Sabah. The SERVE CAMBODIA 2004 team just returned from their expedition on Monday, 22 Nov 2004, and we are sure they have lots of stories to tell. For the coming semester, BA CARES (Overseas) will be going to Sabah and the Philippines. Applications for joining the trips will be opened soon. There has always been overwhelming response for our overseas projects, so do apply and submit your applications early.

The BA CARES (Overseas) programme works in partnership with the Youth Expedition Project (YEP) of the Singapore International Foundation (SIF). The reflection and learning experiences of each trip has been invaluable, and we would encourage every BA student to aspire to go for one such trip in your life at BA.

BA CARES strongly encourages every member to apply for the National Youth Achievement Award (NYAA). It is a very worthwhile programme which aims to develop students in many areas, and is highly recognized by all institutions and employers. Taking part in the BA CARES activities alone can actually help you to achieve a gold medal in the NYAA, but you must sign up for it before the activity. We are proud that 2 of the students from the SERVE CAMBODIA 2003 team have actually received the gold medal, which is presented bi-annually by the President of Singapore himself.

Did we mention privileges earlier? If you do not already realize, the privileges of BA CARES members are priceless. You will find that your heart grows in BA CARES, and that the reward of satisfaction in seeing the joy in the face of others is something money cannot buy. Perhaps the most tangible privilege is the CCA points received. Because of the many activities you can be involved in, there is opportunity for you to obtain many CCA points too.

Finally, BA CARES would like to echo Sir Winston Churchill :

"You make a living by what you get. You make a life by what you give."

How to join? Look out for announcements, emails and other notifications soon. Simply join us for any activity organized, and immediately you will become a member.

We look forward to your membership.

From the advisors of BA CARES

Mr Ben Tan (tkl2@np.edu.sg, Ext 6051)
Mrs Joyce Tang (wwc2@np.edu.sg, Ext 6783)
Mr Andrew Juniper Lee (lck3@np.edu.sg, Ext 6083)
Mr Leow Teck Sim (lts5@np.edu.sg, Ext 6014)
Ms Nellie Chew (csl6@np.edu.sg, Ext 6761)
Mr Pang Kok Meng (pkm@edu.sg, Ext 6054)
Mrs Lucy Tan (tsf2@np.edu.sg, Ext 6980)