Catholic Aids Response Effort

CATHOLIC AIDS RESPONSE EFFORT Annual Report (1 January 2011 to 31 December 2011)

1. MANAGEMENT

1.1 Members of the Governing Board 1.1.1 In the course of the year under review, an Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held on 26 March 2011.

1.1.2 The following members were elected to the Management Committee at the AGM:

President - Michael A Png Tee Koon Vice President - Anthony Soo Wai Seng Secretary - Gabriel T H Ong Treasurer - Ambrose J L Tan Asst Treasurer - Joseph S C Chen Committee Members - Jacinta Jamuna Rajoo Albert Teo Chu Ying Fabian Anthony Susanna Goh

1.1.3 Rev Father Adrian Anthony was the appointed Spiritual Director.

2. STAFFING

2.1 Employees

The following were employees of the Charity as at 31 December 2011:

Name Designation Start Date Immanuel Lin Junyu Executive 26 April 2010 Michael Charles Loh Executive Director 1 May 2011 Florence Seah Programme Manager 1 July 2011

2.2 Salaries

None of the Charity’s employees was paid in excess of S$100,000 per annum.

2.3 Volunteers

2.3.1 As at 31 December 2011, CARE registered 27 active volunteers.

2.3.2 In September 2011, CARE advertised for volunteers through the Catholic News. Response to the advertisement was poor and we managed to recruit one volunteer who CATHOLIC AIDS RESPONSE EFFORT Annual Report (1 January 2011 to 31 December 2011)

taught English to the residents. Majority of the others who called in to make enquiries were not ready to work with PLWHAs.

2.3.3 CARE Volunteers were mainly involved as befrienders to our Resident and Non-resident beneficiaries. Four para-counsellors also provided pastoral care to residents on a one-to- one basis.

2.4 Training for Employees & Volunteers

2.4.1 CARE staff and volunteers attended the following training during the year under review:

Date Name of Event Participants 12/2 Volunteer Orientation Maureen Jay, Candy Chua, Michelle Low, Haslin Ahmad, Daisy William 2/04 Volunteer Orientation Anthony Soo, Leonard Lee, Max Chan 14/05; Volunteer Training (Patient Care Center, CDC) Staff: 28/05; Immanuel Lin, 4/06 and Florence Seah, 11/6 Michael Loh Volunteers: Ambrose Tan, Max Chan, Haslin Ahmad, Glen (USP) 28/6-1/7 Conference of the Catholic Asia-Pacific Coalition for Michael Loh HIV/AIDS (Latkrabang, Thailand) From Certificate in Para-counselling (Social Service Immanuel Lin 14/06- Training Institute, NCSS) 25/08 19/07 Volunteer Training – Volunteer Screening: Beyong Immanuel Lin Face-to-Face Interview (Managing & Organising Volunteer Efforts) 1/09 Caritas Engagement in Advocacy: Can We Preach Staff: the Gospel Without Hearing and Giving Voice to Immanuel Lin; the “Cries of the Poor” by Msgr Bobby Vittilo, Head Florence Seah; Michael of Caritas Internationalis Delegation in Geneva Loh Volunteers: Gabriel Liew; Ellen Tan; Nicholas Hoh; Dr C Y Hoon 27/09 Volunteer Training – Understanding and Engaging Immanuel Lin CARE Annual Report 2011 2 CATHOLIC AIDS RESPONSE EFFORT Annual Report (1 January 2011 to 31 December 2011)

Date Name of Event Participants Episodic Volunteers (Managing & Organising Volunteer Efforts)

2.4.2 Staff and volunteers who attended these training are better equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills. They also feel more confident when delivering care to the beneficiaries.

3. GOVERNANCE

3.1 Institution of a Public Character Status During the year under review, the Charity continued to enjoy IPC Status which is due for renewal in October 2012.

In line with recommendations of the Code of Governance for Charities and Institutions of a Public Character, CARE has been looking into writing the following:

(a) HR Policy (b) Employees’ Handbook (c) Policy on Whistle-Blowing and Complaint Handling (d) Volunteer Management Policy

The writing and subsequent adoption of these policies reflects the Charity’s commitment towards high level of governance.

With the adoption of these new policies, the next step will be to write out Standard Operations Procedures for the guidance of management and ensure continued Institutional Memory rather than depending on individual memory which can pose serious problems to any organization when employees resign.

3.2 Strategic Planning Retreat A strategic planning retreat using the Review of Life method was held from 12-14 August 2011 at the Lifesprings Canossian Spirituality Center. 5 members of the Management Committee and 3 employees participated in the weekend retreat.

At the retreat, the attendees re-visited the vision and mission of CARE and carved out a new vision for the Charity as “Be a sign of God’s love in restoring the dignity of PLWHAS who are accepted by society without prejudice or discrimination”. The Charity’s main mission was also re-written as “To advocate and cater to the spiritual, psychological, financial and physical wellbeing of PLWHAS”.

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At the end of the retreat, it was discerned that the Charity’s focus for the next 12 months would be on making improvements to its pastoral care programme for residents of the Shelter home.

4. PROGRAMMES & SERVICES

4.1 Residential CARE Shelter

4.1.1 During the year under review, the CARE Shelter continued to be our major activity.

4.1.2 Admissions: Total residents as at 1 Jan 2011 26 Total admissions during the year 12 Total discharges during the year 13 Total as at 31 Dec 2011 25

4.1.3 Distribution by Gender: Male 25 Female 0 Total 25

4.1.4 Distribution by Ethnic Groups: Chinese 20 Malay 3 Indian 2 Others 0 Total 25

4.1.5 The year under review saw a significant increase in the number of referrals from the Prisons Department.

4.2 Pastoral Care for Residents

4.2.1 During the year under review the following programmes were introduced to provide holistic care and spiritual development of our residents:

(a) Meditation and Prayer (b) Ethics (c) English Lessons

4.3 Employment for Residents

4.3.1 Cottage Industry 4 University Scholars Programme students from NUS Business School did their community project at CARE. They were tasked to look into setting up a cottage industry for CARE residents. After conducting a survey among the residents to ascertain their needs and preferences, they suggested candle-making as a suitable project for CARE residents. The students will be doing a market survey and costing to ensure the viability of the project before putting up a proposal for management’s consideration and approval.

4.3.2 A participant of the Caritas Potential Leaders Programme who was attached to CARE, has offered long-term employment opportunities for CARE residents. Some of the possibilities include gardening work and food catering for private functions. These projects were planned to start in early 2012.

4.3.3 Two residents have been working at the Patient Care Center, Communicable Disease Center.

4.3.4 During the year under review, several organisations offered short-term employment for our residents including:

(a) Gim Tim Group of Restaurants (b) Earthpacs Global Nomads (c) Bizlink Center Singapore

4.4 Non-Residential Programme

4.4.1 The programme continued to serve the same number of families as last year. There has been no increase in the number of beneficiaries since CARE did not receive any referral for the programme from either CDC or any other hospitals.

4.4.2 The profile of our Non-residential Clients is as follows: Non-Resident S’pore S’pore Thais Total Description Malay Indian PLWHA Women 2 1 7 10 PLWHA Children 1 - 2 3 Non-PLWHA Children 3 2 4 9 Total 6 3 13 22

4.4.3 The financial support continued in the form of monthly food rations, monthly transport pocket money for school-going children and the annual school text-book allowance.

4.4.4 From October 2011, the monthly food ration was given in $40 worth of supermarket vouchers. The non-residents are happy with this arrangement as it means that they can buy whatever they need. They still continued to receive some donated food items like rice, sugar, noodles and biscuits, whenever these are available.

4.5 Advocacy

4.5.1 Student Outreach As in previous years, our Student Outreach programme consisted mainly of talks to students in Catholic schools and student attachments to CARE shelter. For more details please refer to the 2011 Calendar of Advocacy Events (on page 6-7).

4.5.2 World AIDS Day (WAD) The WAD Mass was held on 1 December 2011 at Blessed Sacrament Church. In conjunction with the mass, a mini-exhibition poster exhibition was held at Damien Hall as part of our Advocacy outreach to the Catholic community. A new set of exhibition panels was produced and used for the first time at this event. The panels highlighted the plight of the PWHAS and how we, as a Catholic community, can respond to their needs and help them live with dignity.

A forum was also held on 6 December at Damien Hall. The purpose of the forum was to create awareness of the challenges faced by PLWHAs among the Catholic community and to provoke discussion and reflections about these challenges. The forum comprises 3 different segments:

 Talk on “AIDS: Stigma and Discrimination” by Ms Ho Lai Peng (Principal Medical Social Worker, TTSH)  An interfaith dialogue with representatives from different faiths including Mr Henry Baey (Buddhist), Mr Feisal Abdul Rahman (Muslim) and Fr Gerardus Suyono (Catholic).  Talk on “Lessons in Love - Damien of Molokai” by Fr Anthony Hutjes.

As part of our advocacy plan to reach out to Catholics in Singapore, Catholic News published 3 articles in Nov/Dec 2011. Please refer to the 2011 Calendar of Advocacy Events below for details.

4.6 2011 Calendar of Advocacy Events

Date Name of Event No. of Participants 17/2 US Navy Visit 20 Navy personnel 26/3 Kampong Kapor Methodist Church – HIV/AIDS 120 participants Seminar 15/4 Talk on AIDS to SJI students 320 students CARE Annual Report 2011 6 CATHOLIC AIDS RESPONSE EFFORT Annual Report (1 January 2011 to 31 December 2011)

Date Name of Event No. of Participants Apr-Jun SJI Attachment – Interactive Sessions with 4 students Residents 1 teacher Jun/July NUS USP Attachment – A series of talks and 6 USP scholars consultation on financial management. Aug-Dec Order of the Carmelite Discalced (OCD) 1 OCD postulant Attachment – Nicholas Hoh 9/08 Legion of Mary Seminar 2011 – Introduction of 220 Legionaries CARE 24/09 Kampong Kapor Methodist Church Inter-faith Sharing on HIV/AIDS – Presentation of CARE’s 30 participants work for PLWHAs 4. 7, 11 & 14 Attachment from Caritas Potential Leaders Oct Programme – A Call to Social Mission by Antony 3 participants Ng, Don Kingsley and Mike 14/10 US Navy visit – USS George Washington 22 navy personnel 19/11 Visit by City Harvest Church 3 volunteers 20/11 Catholic News Report – Meditation, classes for 25,000 readership people with HIV/AIDS 1/12 World AIDS Day Mass @ Blessed Sacrament 70 attendees Church 6/12 World AIDS Day Forum @ Blessed Sacrament 45 participants from Church, Damien Hall different parishes 18/12 Catholic News Report – Catholics urged to love 25,000 readership unconditionally at AIDS Day Mass 25/12 Catholic News Report - ‘Interfaith forum on HIV/AIDS – Muslim, Buddhist and Catholic 25,000 readership representatives share how their religions view the condition’

5. MISCELLANEOUS

5.1 CAPCHA 5.1.1 The Catholic Asia-Pacific Coalition for HIV/AIDS was officially launched on 1 July 2011 by The Apostolic Nuncio H E Giovanni d’Aniello. The launch was the culmination of the 4- day conference held from 28 June to 1 July 2011 at the St Camillian Center in Latkrabang, Thailand.

5.1.2 During the launch, CAPCHA’s vision was unveiled. It reads as “Catholic organizations in the Asia-Pacific Region, motivated by the compassionate love of God, working together

for the prevention, care, support and treatment of people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS, irrespective of ethnic, national origins or religious beliefs”.

5.1.3 CARE’s Executive Director represented Singapore at this conference and presented the Country Report for Singapore. Following its successful launch, CAPCHA became the face of Catholic response to HIV/AIDS in the Asian-Pacific Region. Singapore officially became a member and is being represented by CARE.

5.2 Visit of Msgr Bobby Vittilo Msgr Robert Vitillo, Head of Caritas Internationalis Delegation in Geneva, visited CARE’s premises 1 September 2011. The purpose of his visit to CARE was to share information about advocacy work for HIV/AIDS. He also gave a talk entitled “Caritas Engagement in Advocacy” to all Caritas members including staff and volunteers of CARE.

6. STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTS FOR YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2011

6.1 The audited Statement of Accounts for the financial year ended 31 December 2011 is attached.

7. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

7.1 On behalf of the Management Committee, I wish to record our thanks to Rev Fr Adrian Anthony for his spiritual guidance.

7.2 I also wish to record my special thanks to all our kind sponsors and partners. Without their generous support, collaboration and contributions, we would not get where we are today.

7.3 Last but not least, my personal thanks and appreciation to all the hardworking members of the Management Committee, staff and volunteers. Without their support, time and effort, we would not have been able to operate the Shelter and offer our services to the people we serve at CARE and in the community. .

Michael A Png President Catholic AIDS Response Effort

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