While walking to seniors activity centre I remember thinking to myself:

What if I run out of things to talk about? What if there’s a communication barrier with the elderly folks? Maybe I should’ve been better prepared with a list of topics that the seniors would be interested in.

As an individual who is naturally shy around new people, I was feeling a little tense. Why couldn’t my company have organised a volunteer session that didn’t require direct human interaction? Perhaps one that deals with the environment, or one where we help with food distribution?

When we arrived, I stood awkwardly at the entrance of the centre, while some of my colleagues eased their way to the tables at the far end.

Eventually, my colleague Fas and I picked a seat at a table closest to us. Immediately after we sat down, a lady who looked to be in her sixties whipped out her phone and showed us a photo of herself from years ago.

“That’s me in my twenties. Pretty or not?” she declared.

As Fas and I chuckled at her forwardness, something my colleague who organised the session said popped into my head:

“Most of them just want to chat. They just want company and people to have nice conversations with.”

The eager lady then introduced herself as Susan*. Sitting at the table were her two friends, Jenna* and Kim*, who returned my smile with toothy grins.

While chatting with Susan, I learnt that she lived in France with her sister and brother-in-law for nine years, and the United States for six months. As I’ve always dreamed of living overseas, I couldn’t help but ask a ton of questions about her life abroad.

But as interested as I was, the conversation came to an eventual lull. We sat around in an awkward silence.

Please start, please start, please start, I thought to myself repeatedly. Where were the activities and games that were supposed to happen?

To my relief, the organiser arrived a while later and kickstarted the programme.

We engaged the seniors in various games that had them guess classical hits and old photos of local landmarks. One of our editors even belted out an acoustic version of the popular ‘60s tune, Hey Jude, to them as they clapped and sang along.

As I watched Susan, Jenna, and Kim eagerly make guesses, I became less tense and began pushing them to go up to the front with their answers.

“Bingo, bingo! When are we going to play Bingo?” Jenna kept asking repeatedly. She revealed to me that it was her favourite game, and that they played it every Wednesday afternoon.

Much to her delight, we ended off the afternoon with several rounds of Bingo. Although Jenna didn’t win any of the games, her excitement was contagious.

Seeing them get so enthusiastic over the littlest things was oddly heartwarming. It felt good to see the seniors happy and entertained.

It didn’t take as long as I’d imagined to connect with the seniors. And after I eased up, it was actually an enjoyable and fulfilling experience.

It was then that I realised all my fears about awkwardness were inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. I was so caught up with how it would be and how uncomfortable I would feel that I had missed the whole purpose of going there -- to just provide company to the seniors.

After two hours, at about 4.30pm, Kim and Susan stood up from the table.

“Okay okay, we need to rush off to watch our show already. Today was fun. See you again ah!”

I nodded and said my goodbyes. As clichéd as it sounds, that session made me understand why people volunteer on a regular basis.

Besides keeping the seniors happy and entertained, it was also a fulfilling experience for me.

Change the world... or Singapore, at least. And you don’t have to do it alone.

Volunteering adds meaning to one’s life, which is why millennials are now finding job satisfaction through their companies’ efforts to contribute to society. Employers are becoming more socially responsible, and want to learn how to do good that is sustainable and impactful, by joining the network of Company of Good.

Since 2016, the Company of Good (CoG) programme launched by the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NVPC) has empowered businesses operating in Singapore to give in strategic, sustainable and impactful ways.

CoG member and Champion of Good, Changi Airport Group (CAG) gives employees five days of volunteer leave and even provides training to prepare them for their volunteering work.

The Changi Foundation also supports disadvantaged youths by running various programmes for Northlight School, Assumption Pathway School and other beneficiaries every year.

John Ong, a safety management manager at CAG, told NVPC that his most memorable experience was when he mentored a student from Northlight School. His mentee transformed from a hesitant and quiet person to a confident and motivated young man, which made John feel like a proud father as he watched his mentee receive his certification of completion on stage.

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Read about how other businesses have done their part here.

Sign up to be a Company of Good, or, if your company is more experienced in corporate giving, you can also find more ways to do good.

*All names have been changed.

This sponsored post in collaboration with NVPC fulfills Mothership.sg’s millennials and makes them feel more satisfied about their jobs. Thanks, boss.