Sharing of Volunteering Experience For VES

I was asked by Stacey, IRAS Corporate Communications Officer to share my volunteering experience for the VES exercise for the Serangoon newsletter.

This was what I wrote:-

Dear Stacey,

I am surprised but honoured to share my e-filing experiences with the residents of the Serangoon area through the area’s newsletter. Here are my thoughts about volunteering for the yearly e-filing exercise.

I had begun volunteering for the exercise in the Year 2005, first at Contact 123 IT Centre for the first three years, then at the Serangoon CC for the remaining years. The reasons that prompted me to do so were as follows:-

1. I was working in a small audit firm that had a limited number of personal tax clients. Therefore in order not to let myself forget about the personal tax laws that I have learnt in my polytechnic days, I decided to sign up for the exercise. I did not expect my yearly volunteering have enabled me to get the current job as a tax senior in another audit firm about three years ago.

2. I have always enjoyed helping people when they are in need, even though I am physically challenged myself, after being diagnosed with cerebral palsy from birth, that resulted me having two operations on my legs and walking with an awkward gait. I am glad that I am still able to lead a normal life. Volunteering for this exercise yearly allows me to give back to the society.

3. I always enjoyed meeting new people and making new friends. Participating in this exercise allowed me to meet a lot of new people and mingle with the residents of the Serangoon area. As the years went by, those residents who came by are always happy to see a familiar face. It has grown to the extent that when some of the residents came by to e-file their taxes, they actually offered to pay for my services. When I told them that the service is free, they actually offered to buy us food and drinks in return! When I completed their tax return, they would say goodbye to me, before telling me “See you next year!” For me, it is always a great feeling to see the smiles on their faces. As for the volunteers, it is always great to see some new faces every year, but for those seasoned volunteers like us, we always look forward to the refresher course as our yearly catch up session.

My most memorable experiences happened in 2007. That year, Mr. Naga, the person in charge of the Contact 123 IT Centre had passed away suddenly before the exercise was due to start. I took the responsibility upon myself to liaise with the IRAS Corporate Communications Officers, Ms Clara Ng, Ms Rena Soon and the Member of Parliament of the area, Mrs. Lim Hwee Hua in order to let the exercise run smoothly at the Centre. I am really thankful for their assistance they rendered at that time, otherwise the residents would have faced problems finding help for people to e-file their taxes. This experience actually helped me build up my courage to communicate with people and train up my leadership skills.

I certainly hope to see more people coming forward to help out in this year’s Volunteer e-filing exercise. It has been a fulfilling experience for the past 6 years.

I am quite sure that this article would get edited. It was not easy to come up with this within half an hour last night. =)