Bishan Home for the Intellectually Disabled – A community service project by the Rotary Club of Marina City and RC of Bandar Seri Begawan ( 2011-2012 )

Rotary Club of Marina City has answered calls of assistance from an underprivileged community.

Last year, RC Marina City received a request from Bishan Home for the Intellectually Disabled to assist in purchasing a van. RC of Marina City took on the task and sets its sights in completing a major community service project to raise funds for the Bishan Home for the Intellectually Disabled to enable the Home to purchase another van so that the Home will be in a better position to extend its Day Care Services to needy families in the community.

Currently the Home provides care to 129 residents and 24 day-care clients. They are unable to extend its day care services to more needy families in the surrounding area area because of the lack of transportation to ferry the patients. The Home presently has two vans, one of which is 13 years old. The Home finds that it is no longer viable for it to operate the 13- year old van and has appealed to the club to find a replacement for the van.

Apart from transporting its intellectually disabled clients, the van will be use to ferry residents and day care patients to doctors and other medical appointments. Such trips are expected to increase because of the “ageing” residential population in the Home.

With the addition of the new van, Bishan Home will be able to extend its day care services from 24 clients to 50 (approximately). The Home is receiving more requests for admission from needy families in the areas around Bishan, Ang Moh Kio, Yio Chu Kang, Kallang, Whampoa and Bendemeer. The new Rotary van will enable the Home to serve the wider aging community which needs transportation to the Home for it’s day care services.The Home has its own management and nursing staff as well as a team of skilled personnel (drivers, cooks, nursing aids etc).

Bishan Home for the Intellectually Disabled was declared open by the then Deputy Prime Minister, BG (NS) Lee Hsien Loong on 25th September, 1999.

This project is in collaboration with RC of Bandar Seri Begawan and support from Foundation of Rotary Clubs (Singapore) Ltd, Crocodile Foundation and The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International, USA. We would like to thank all partners for making this donation possible.

Cost of the Toyota Hiace Van is S$50,826. Handover of Toyota Hiace Van on 30th June 2012

-pp penelope phoon