Courts (S) Ltd

• Cynthia Tan is the Consumer Finance Manager at Courts (S) Ltd. She has been working in Courts for the past 8 years.
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Q: Cynthia, could you please give a brief introduction on Courts?

A: Courts is an International furniture and household-related company, based in UK. It has been around for 150 years and has about 150 retail stores worldwide.  

Q: How did Courts get to know about blood donation?

A: As part of the celebration of Courts’ 150^th Anniversary last year, the UK Head Office decided to adopt Red Cross worldwide as their adopted charity. The adoption was for one year and one of the activities to be implemented was to hold blood donation drives amongst other fund raising projects like “Walk for Humanity” and “Homes of the Disabled” etc. 

Q: Who spearheaded and made the decision for the blood donation drives in Singapore? A: It was our MD, Mr Terry O’Connor, who spearheaded this project. He worked hand in hand with a couple of his staff in the planning, coordinating and running of the donation drives.

Q: When was Courts (S) first blood donation drive? And how did you spread the word?

A: It was in October 2000, and was held within Courts retail store in Plaza Singapura. By word of mouth and memos, we informed our 450 strong staff in Singapore, and even encouraged the tenants and customers in Plaza Singapura to participate in our blood drive. As it was held on a weekday, the response wasn’t good as we had hoped for as people had to work and most of our staff were women (either underweight or some personal reasons). Thus, we had only about 80 people turn up for the donation.  

Q: Was it easy to get your coworkers or even the tenants or customers to do their bit?

A: It was not an easy task to persuade the people. Most of them were quite afraid. Most thought it would be a painful process while some had the misconception that they would be weak after the donation and some were afraid at the sight of blood! We thought that it was much easier to ask for a money donation than a blood donation!  

Q: How many times has Courts (S) done the drive? And has it been successful?

A: So far, we have done it twice. Once was last year and the latest was in February this year. We had a week-long drive at the National Blood Centre and even arranged for a mobile blood drive at our office’s carpark. The response for the second blood drive was better. With feedback and encouragement from their coworkers who went through it the first time, people were more positive and thus we had more participants.  

Q: Do you think it has changed people’s lives and how do they feel about it?

A: After the event, most of the misconceptions about blood donation that people had were dispelled. Everybody was happy to be able to help save lives and some have even pledged to be regular blood donors.  

Q: Do you think these events have brought your company closer?

A: Yes, they have indeed. Doing things together and sharing such enriching experiences have made us grow closer as a unit. The blood drive demolished the walls of rank and seniority. For that afternoon, we were not employers and employees but rather just ordinary people doing our bit for society and this event has cultivated a more relaxed and tightly knitted work environment. 

Q: Finally, would you encourage other companies or organizations to do the same thing?

A: Yes, I would strongly encourage companies to do so. I cannot but stress on the point that everybody should play their role and help out in whatever way they can. Even if they can’t donate due to some reason, they could always encourage others to, spread the word, give moral support at the site or be part of the planning team. Giving, be it blood or effort, is a reward in itself.

Lions Club of Singapore

- Major Raymond Tang has been in Lions Club of Singapore since December 1990. He served as Club President in 1995/1996 and was the District Chairman in 1997/1998 & 1999/2000. As of July this year, he will be holding the post of Zion Chairman for 2001/2002. 

Q: What is the Lions Club of Singapore and what does it do?

A: The Lions Club of Singapore is part of an international volunteer organization, which was founded in 1917. We provide community services to the general public and aim to make a difference in the lives of people everywhere. We are mostly recognized for our service to the blind and visually impaired and for our service at the international level to the aged. Particularly for the “Lions Befrienders Service” and the “Lions Home for the Elders.” In Singapore, we have 1,800 members from our 56 Clubs. 

Q: How did Lions Club of Singapore get to know about blood donation? And why did your organization step forward to help out?

A: I was a volunteer with Red Cross then (and still am) and I was invited to attend the launch of a blood donation drive. From the event, I found out about the dire shortage of blood in the blood bank due to the poor response from the public. Hence, after sharing this information with Mr Lion Goh Boon Kok, the President of Lions Club of Singapore(East) in 1994, we worked together with Mandarin Hotel’s management, and later on, with the Grassroot leaders to get people in the community to step forward to help out to do their bit to save lives. 

Q: When was Lions Club’s first blood donation drive?

A: It started in 1994, where the Lions Club of Singapore partnered with Mandarin Hotel’s management and staff to hold a blood donation drive. Mandarin Hotel was the venue and we collected about 120 packets of blood that day.  

Q: Was it easy to convince everybody to donate blood then?

A: Mandarin Hotel’s management and staff was very supportive as it was for a good cause, and there was also press coverage, lucky draws, time off for staff for the event and thus, everybody turned out for the drive. The only difficult part was to get the public to participate. We were on the streets, outside Mandarin Hotel, trying to get passer-bys to donate but many turned away. We even gave out flyers to the housing estates to let them know about the drive but didn’t this garner much response  

Q: So far, how many times has Lions Club done the drives? And is this a yearly event?

A: East Club has been doing a yearly event with Mandarin Hotel, and Host Club just started working with and through the Grassroot last year. The Lions Clubs also plan to increase our drive with the Grassroot from an annual to a bi-annual event.  

Q: Which blood donation drive was the most memorable?

A: I would say that it was the recent one with the Grassroot. With their help, we managed to get a Church, City Harvest, to participate in the drive as well. We had about 502 people who turned up. The response for the 10 hour blood drive was so overwhelming that we didn’t have enough doctors and nurses to cope with so large number of people! That day alone, we managed to collect about 350 packets of blood.  

Q: How did most people feel about it? Have it affected their lives?

A: The people found it very fulfilling after the successful blood drive. After all the weeks of planning, attending meetings day and night…it was really worthwhile. It was also inspiring to see the church coming out with their own cool design t-shirts and blood donation drive poster competitions. 

Q: Do you think these drives have brought your members and the community closer?

A: Yes..definitely it has. We all felt great and happy to be able to do this together as one big family, especially for a good cause. 

Q: Would you recommend other corporate companies or organizations to do the same thing?

A: I do encourage corporate companies or organizations to contribute and help out. Should they lack experience in organizing such events, I am sure that Red Cross would only be too willing to provide a co-ordinator to assist them. It would be a great experience as well as a fulfilling one, for both the organization as well as the individual.