Ministry of Social & Family Development’s video shows how ‘giants’ are making a difference in S’porean lives

Have you ever been moved by the seemingly small actions of someone else?

That sentiment was brought to mind when I first watched the Ministry of Social and Family Development’s (MSF) new campaign video.

The minute-and-a-half clip might seem a bit odd at first glance — featuring gigantic people helping others — but it perfectly illustrates the massive impact social service agencies and their corporate partners have.

Inspired by real-life stories

MSF has designated 2023 as its the Year of Celebrating Social Service Partners, which recognises the contributions of many social service agencies and corporate partners in building strong families and a caring society.

Their campaign video features five stories inspired by real-life experiences.

Some of these stories include corporate volunteers who distribute essentials such as fresh food and rations to lower-income families from Prudential Singapore.

APSN works with partners to educate, train and mentor individuals with mild intellectual disability to help them find sustainable employment, while DBS bank works with ComLink families to provide children living in rental housing with financial literacy.

Giants in our everyday lives

All in all, the clip has five scenes which depict:

1. A lady in a wheelchair going for a horse therapy lesson
2. An argument in a family home
3. A lady with Down syndrome decorating a cake
4. A family receiving essential items
5. A young student going to a robotic class

In all these situations, there is a ‘giant’ person showing their support in one way or another.

Making a giant impact

At the 53-second mark of the video, we’re brought through all the previous vignettes seen so far, except this time, the giants are regular-sized.

Immediately, the message becomes clear.

The efforts of regular human beings — volunteers and social service workers — in their own ways, have a giant impact on their beneficiaries.

“There are giants among us who make a giant impact,” reads a title on the screen, followed by scenes of the partners and workers with the people they’re helping.

The lady smiling widely after her horse therapy lesson; the family reunited and having dinner together; a group of volunteers laughing as they distribute essential items to families in need; the baking instructor supporting the lady with Down Syndrome as she showcased her cake; and the teacher volunteer who received a thank you card from her student.

All throughout, a delicate folksy tune scores the video: “There’s a choir behind every sound. There are voices that move underground… There are giants that hide in plain sight.”

This perfectly sums up the message of the video, without having much dialogue.

While I often don’t think I can be a great help to those who need it, this video showed me how small actions can have such huge impacts. Learn more about how you can play your part here.

The full video can be found here:

​​This sponsored article by the MSF made the writer see volunteering differently.

All images screenshot from MSF's video.