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[foodpath-blog1]

IS THIS… GOODBYE?

WELCOME BACK to our final (yes, really!) post of the FoodPath journey! We started nearly 4 months ago, and it is truly amazing to see how far we’ve come! When we started this blog back then, we barely knew each other’s names… oh how time flies. As it is our last post, join us on this journey as we look back on some of the major moments that happened!

We began in October last year – when we first got into our teams. We were just starting to acclimate to our roles and each other before we were tasked to write weekly updates on the happenings of the program for our lovely readers. (you included!)

During the planning phase, we had also spent some time deciding on the direction of the programme before we began our outreach to the Yishun residents as well as NYP staff and students.

During the outreach phase, we conducted a survey to gauge our participants’ awareness on food wastage and food insecurity in Singapore. Here is a sample of the questions asked.

How much food waste did Singapore generate in the year 2016? (1 tonne = 1,000 kilograms)

How many people in Singapore do you think struggle to find food?

I think it’s time to reveal the answers!                          

Did you know that 791,000 tonnes of food was wasted in the year 2016, and that 1 in 10 people in Singapore struggles to put food on their tables? Such huge numbers! Many residents were also unaware of that! I’m truly glad that we were given the chance to participate in this fight to reduce food wastage and that we’ve managed to raise some awareness on this global issue!

During our Yishun Food Collection, we visited 7 blocks in total. The amount of food we’ve collected (such as staples, beverages, condiments, snacks, canned food, dried preserved food) weighs up to 813 kg for the 2 collection days in Yishun! Well done and thank you to our kind donors!

We completed our next phase of outreach at NYP and completed a carnival as well!

During the carnival, we had managed to collect $805.95 from the $1 Food Pantry booth! Isn’t that amazing? We’d also managed to secure 194 standard and 63 healthier food bundles for our beneficiaries! A standard bundle (consisting of cereals, maggie noodles etc.) costs $10 while a healthier bundle (consisting of brown rice, fruits etc.) costs $20. If you are interested to donate a food bundle to families in need, please feel free to click on the link below!

http://www.foodbank.sg/index.php/get-involved/donate/food/invest-in-food-bundles

That being said, we are truly thankful to those who were able to donate – we really don’t know how to repay you!

As for the food collection, we managed to collect a variety of staples, beverages, snacks, milk and canned food. A massive thank you from us, to you for donating!

Although our event has come to an end, we hope you guys have learnt something throughout this whole journey with us! The path your food takes is in your hands! Help reduce food waste and choose the FoodPath to Food Bank instead ;) Donate your excess food products to Food Bank so the clients can continue to gain access to daily meals despite their challenging financial or social circumstances!

Now, I’m sure that was a lot to digest, so let us watch a video (our final one aww) of some of our selected FoodPath members from the various teams talking about their journey and what they’ve learned!

Did you guys enjoy the video? I hope the video has given you many insights of our journey in the fight to reduce food wastage! As this program comes to an end, we would like to thank everyone involved for making it possible in the first place: our supervisor, Diana, the Programmes, Logistics, Publicity, Sponsorship, Documentation Teams and, lastly, to the organization that was kind enough to provide us with this opportunity, Food Bank!

To our readers, thank you for being with us on every step of the way and we truly wish you luck in your future endeavors! Once again, this has been the Documenters and we truly hope that you’ve enjoyed going with us on this journey as much as we did!

Signing off for the last time…. with love <3 (*sobs*),

[foodpath-blog1]

Food Carnival @ NYP

Food Carnival

Hi everyone! The documenters are back and this week has been an exciting one! Finally, after all the hard work being put it in by the different teams for the carnival, it was being executed! All of us not only feel as though we a load has been lifted off our backs but we are also glad that we have done our best and are grateful for those who came to support us. Let us now share more with you about the carnival! Let us first introduce you to the booths at our carnival. Introducing ...

“Fastest and Strongest”

Participants would have to push a trolley filled with 14 kg of food within a certain distance using the shortest time possible. Why 14 kg? Because based on the latest statistic, Singapore had wasted 785,500 tonnes of waste, which is equivalent to 140 kg per person! Yikes. But of course because we couldn’t let most people push 140 kg, we downsized that to 14 kg, but it still does feel really heavy to push & sprint at the same time!

“Food in the Air”

Well, I guess you would know what this booth is about just by the name of it… here, a marshmallow is hung in the air and participants have to hop and squat down without using hands to get it. This was to demonstrate the struggle 1 in 10 Singaporeans face in trying to get basic needs such as food, shelter, clothes – but with more emphasis on food, of course!

“Is This You?”

Interesting name, don’t you think? Well, this booth features Daisy, the mannequin wearing a dress made out of 14 milk cartons and holding two bowls, where participants would pour the rice through, but it’s a trick! The 2 bowls have holes made in them where rice will fall out of regardless of how it’s being poured into the bowl. The cartons of milk tell participants that only 14% of food was recycled in a year, and that the two bowls represents the fact that two bowls of rice are wasted per person each day! This was all to alert the participants on the seriousness of food wastage.

“Agak Agak”

Participants had to put in a certain amount of food into the basket and amount it to 400 g. Why 400 g? Each person wastes 400 g of rice every day! That is is the equivalent of 2 full bowls of rice, every day. 400 g may not seem like a lot, but overtime this leads to a huge amount of food being wasted!

The ‘NEA Exhibit’ Booth

This is where participants were taught on how they could inculcate good habits to reduce food wastage. They had to strategically plan where to drop the disc so it lands in a green box and not a red box.

Redemption Booth

Participants can redeem attractive prizes once they have completed at least 3 out of the 5 booths!

$1 Pantry

People could get food items at $1 each, regardless of how much they cost in stores!

Food Collection Booth

Thank you so much to all those who donated food!   In the midst of managing the carnival, we did have some challenges that we had to face. On the first day, the turnout rate was low. Some of our FoodPathers did crowd pulling to get students to come to our event, but ended up facing quite a bit of rejection, and this dampened their spirits. We also happened to have one of our exam papers the next day, so everyone studied while manning booths at the same time. Everyone was stressed and this lead to a duller atmosphere of the carnival. It was also amusing how someone nearly thought that we were going to open up a tuition center and even asked one of the FoodPathers if that was the case!

However, we noticed that the $1 Pantry booth attracted a lot of students. Students could also win prizes from participating in the Instagram competition, such as FoodPanda vouchers and Starbucks gift cards. We decided to emphasize on winning these items while doing crowd pulling on the second day, hoping that more people will be willing to participate in our competitions and come to our carnival. On the second day, the turnout did improve but some came specially for the $1 Pantry, and the number of posts for the Instagram competition had only increased by 10. We knew right then that something had to be done to ensure our carnival was a real success! We decided that those people who had the skills and stamina for crowd pulling could do it for the entirety of the next day – as this can be very taxing for most people. We had people volunteer so they knew exactly what they were getting themselves into, and thankfully, we did have enough people who stepped up and faced the challenge. Some of the crowd pullers emphasized on the Instagram competition and some encouraged the staff and students to make a donation so that Food Bank can acquire food bundles for the beneficiaries. Those manning the booths just had to be more hyped up. Every FoodPather still had that little bit of hope in them – especially since it was the last day. The last day was the best and turned out better than expected! The crowd pullers did a good job, increasing the number of instagram competition posts from 10 on the second day, to 64 on the last day! We also ended up raising around $3220 in total from selling just food bundles! Those who were manning the booths were not only more hyped up, but had even pulled participants in and walked with them throughout the entire carnival. We may have had a rough start, but we sure ended on a good note. Well done, all Foodpathers! Okay, so here is some good news about the carnival. The students who participated in our carnival ended up gaining more awareness and learned more facts about food wastage – for example, how each person wastes two bowls of rice a day and to understand the struggle of those who have difficulty finding food in Singapore. Some expressed that they would also want to share their takeaways from the event with their family and friends! Their favourite booths were “Fastest and Strongest” and $1 Pantry, with the latter being no surprise since there was quite a crowd there. However, some of the students felt that the games at the booths could have been a little more challenging. Some also felt that the carnival could have been held at a better location and thought that we could be more hyped up. Overall, the carnival went pretty well for us FoodPathers and we were glad to see how all of us were not only united as one team in this, but were also adaptable to the changes needed to be made along the way and were open to how we could improve in order to make this event a great one. We were also resilient as this week was a challenging one for us having to cope with exams and running the carnival at the same time. Great job and thanks to the Logistics Team for allocating the manpower for the carnival, as well as leading the entirety of it. It was also the first time some of the logistics team members were overalls in-charge. They may have been nervous at the start but they did a good job!

Here’s a shout out to our members from the team and for their contribution to the project! Next, let’s give it up to the Programs Team for planning the booths and planning the activity segments of the carnival.

Thanks to the Sponsorship Team as without them we would not have our FoodPath shirts and we wouldn’t have much to give our participants! Finally, thanks also to the Publicity Team for spreading awareness and attracting people to come for our event! As for us Documenters, we could say we have done a good job of keeping everyone posted, haven’t we? :)

We FoodPathers are rather sad that the carnival has come to an end but hey, good job everyone for the hard work and keeping up the good spirit throughout the process.

Well, before I end, who are the winners for the Instagram competition? Let’s find out!

Congratulations to…. @ _bleedinghearts @ nabilgoonies @ davidbowenyip @ _jchk @ evansch52_ @ christopher_wants_nata_de_coco @ nur_akif @ thivya14 @ gennxx @ ann0ying_e Thank you for participating in our carnival! Next week, the documenters will be writing our last post, so do be on a lookout for it! Till next time! Signing off, The Documenters (Jodi)

[foodpath-blog1]

COUNTDOWN TO CARNIVAL

Hello and welcome back to yet another post from us! We’re just in our second week of 2018 and guess what? Our NYP Carnival Event is just 2 days away. Do you guys remember the dates? That’s right! It’s taking place from 10 - 12 January 2018! So do remember to drop by, say hi and support us :) We’ll be looking forward to seeing you! Yes, YOU!!!!! :D

This week has been a tough one for the whole of FoodPath as we have 2 exams to take which happens concurrently with the carnival days. But not to worry, we are still progressing and pressing on to make this carnival a successful and fun one for you guys! For now, let us take a look at what each team is busy with.

Firstly, we have the publicity team. As the carnival date draws near, they are actively posting Instagram countdowns daily leading up to the event. Singaporeans have countdowns for everything so why not do a countdown for this event too, right?! Come join us in this online countdown and follow our instagram page if you haven’t already (links available on your left). They have also been busy with the ongoing Instagram competition! What?? Instagram competition?? Yes, haven’t you heard? Stand a chance to win attractive prizes (just saying, but it may be a Starbucks gift card) when you post a picture of you and your plate before and after you eat ALL your food. Winners are selected not solely on a random basis but on how aesthetically pleasing the picture and creative the caption is. You had me at “attractive prizes”, I’m definitely going to participate in this. More information can be found in the previous post :) Instagram aside, they still have the filming of the final video to complete. It’s not easy to source for people who are willing to be filmed and to find a suitable timing for both parties to meet. However, do not fret, I’m sure the end product of the final video would definitely be worth it.

Next, we have the logistics team! Preparing logistics for the upcoming carnival must be really tough but I’m glad that they are almost done and left with a photobooth to make just 2 days before the carnival. Sounds really intense but we know they’ll keep pressing on! An example would be how they had to make a dress for a mannequin out of milk cartons (1 of our carnival stations) yes milk cartons! It is definitely not a small feat. The whole of FoodPath team had to drink a total of 6 milk cartons bought by them as there were insufficient empty milk cartons to make the dress! Free milk, why not just drink right? :D Also just when they were finishing with the milk carton dress, they realised that latest statistics stated that 14% of food was recycled instead of the 13% figure provided in 2013! Therefore, they had to think of alternatives to add 1 more milk carton into the dress (as 1% = 1 milk carton). Quick thinking working at its best! Well, enough of me talking, here’s a sneak peak of the station items and Daisy the mannequin!

Let’s move on to the programs team! They are still currently working on the carnival, specifically on the game booths, manpower allocation and delegating tasks! What’s a carnival without props? Well, don’t you worry, they are currently preparing and decorating the props needed! However, with exams being in the same week, they can’t help but worry too. You’re not alone, we’re all in this together, programs team! (:

Oh my, who is this! It’s Germaine from the sponsorship team, and looking very tired – a good representation of how all of us are right now despite the week just starting. Today the sponsorship team has just visited the NEA to get the items needed for their booth that they will be having at our carnival, what information will they have? That’s a good reason for you to come on down! What else have they been up to this week? Well, they have been busy liaising with sponsors to get sponsorship items for our goodie bags! Thank you for continuing to source for potential sponsors despite not getting replies from some. Looking on the bright side, there has already been a handful of sponsors who have so generously offered to sponsor items to show their support for the cause, and the team is still in the midst of collecting them! Yay, good job!

Last but not least, what about us? We are currently making plans as to how we are going to film down the process of the carnival happening plus getting deadlines sorted out. And yes, we already have an idea so stay tuned to our upcoming posts because it is going to be one hell of a ride as we’re ¾ in our foodpath journey (: Oh my, ¾? Yes, time has passed indeed, and this is one of our last few posts. But that doesn’t mean we’ll be lacking in quality from here on! Expect more of us in time to come.

So that’s all for now! Stay tuned and we hope to see you at our carnival!

Signing off,

The Documenters (Sherine)

[foodpath-blog1]

NEW YEAR, NEW PROGRESS

Happy new year guys! Are you guys having a happy holiday? Since 2017 is over, it’s time to close the page for the year and usher in 2018 with a new blog post. It has been a busy time for all the teams as the carnival date is approaching faster than we would have imagined (time really flies by in a blink of an eye doesn’t it?). But above all of that, thankfully, the preparation for the carnival is doing alright. Without further ado, let’s get into the details of what each team is currently up to and the progress they have made so far.

First up, the publicity team. The team is extensively publicising numerous social media postings about the carnival (that will be happening on 10 to 12 January 2018) through all their social media accounts so do check them out if you haven’t!  Better yet do follow us if you have yet to because why not, right? It just takes a second to follow us to show your support (all the links can be found under the navigation at the side). The pubs team is keeping track of the time by counting down the numbers of days left to the carnival, hyping the event. We promise the carnival would be a blast so do come down to support us!

Apart from that, they have also been busy with the Instagram competition that is ongoing right now. Some may be wondering “what Instagram competition?”, right? Well, it’s an event where  you take a photo of the plate before and after (empty plate)  you eat. Then, all you have to do is to post the pictures with the hashtag #foodpathnyp . Sounds fun right? Just by posting an empty plate with a hashtag on Instagram stand a chance to win free goodie bags and attractive prizes? Count me in! Catch me with my empty plate on Instagram.

Last but not least, they were busy with the Foodbank Video filming. As mentioned by Naj in the previous blog post, they encountered some bumps while producing the video however they’re managing well at this point! To be able to overcome such obstacles as a group definitely shows their teamwork. As they say, ‘Teamwork makes the dream work’! We wish them success in their progress.

Moving onto the next team, the logistics team. Just like the publicity team, they’re equally as busy during the holiday break. Truly, kudos to both teams for working hard even during the festive season. The team is actively working on the designs for the carnival. Even with the upcoming examinations, they are continue to work enthusiastically building the sculptures that will be the highlight during the carnival. Hard workers indeed! Other than that, they are also confirming the logistics needed for the carnival, making sure everything is settled before the event.

While we’re on the topic of the execution of the programme, we have the program team who is currently busy with the carnival details. Just like the rest of the team, it has been a struggle to juggle both the programme and the upcoming examinations. We are rushing for time to complete everything necessary and hopefully, everything is according to plan. I believe the programme team and the rest of us will be able to pull through! The progs team is currently working on how they can delegate the tasks among the members and this can be a challenging task. Knowing the programme team members, I’m sure they can overcome such adversity. We’ll be here to cheer you on progs team! We got your back.

Next, the sponsorship team. They have been busy liaising, meeting up with the sponsors as well as collecting the sponsored items. With tight exam schedules and the recent festive season, it was hard to squeeze in the time to collect the necessary items. There were several challenges especially when they did not get responses from some of the organizers and this affected the progress of the team. Even with all the obstacles, the team strong willed to make this event a successful one. They really do deserve a standing ovation!

And lastly, we have the documenters team. So far, we decided to advertise more on our Tumblr account. Surely teenagers like us must have a Tumblr account. What better way to publicize than to do it on our Instagram and Facebook page, right? We even did up a short video and as a team, we are currently discussing on eye-catching and appealing ways to capture your attention.

Well, guess that’s all the updates we have for now. For all the readers who are busy with the new year, we wish you good luck. It’s all hard  work but let’s keep going and make 2018 our year.

Thank you and do anticipate our next blog update!

Signing off,

Documenters (Aisyah)

[foodpath-blog1]

THE FOOD BANK WAREHOUSE

HELLO AGAIN!! Welcome back to the LAST blog post of 2017 (got you there!) with this week’s main event being… the Food Bank Warehouse!!

Christmas has just passed (hope you guys had a good one!) and we’re still in the holiday season, but our work doesn’t just stop there! It takes a lot of hard work, time and dedication to be able to run and pull off a programme like this so kudos to us! (we all need a pat on our backs sometimes, don’t ya think?)

Now, before we delve further into the Food Bank Warehouse, let us see what the other teams have been doing this festive season!

First up! We have the publicity team and this week, they’re back with more updates and posts on our Instagram and Facebook! They’ve been religiously updating the platforms so please check them out if you haven’t! (*coughs* @foodpathnyp *coughs*) Or better yet, since you’re already here, no harm in checking out all our other social media platforms! They can be found right here on our Tumblr page <----- (at the left side) under ‘Navigations’!

Apart from that, they have also been busy with the Final Video filming, and a concern they have voiced out to us is that they are worried parts of the Final Video may not be completed due to time constraints. Well publicity team, I’m sure the Final Video will turn out great because no one else will be able to do it like you guys do! The team have also been busy with organizing the lucky draw competition so stay tuned to find out more as you can stand to win PRIZES! Isn’t that great?

Next up, we have the logistics team! This week was spent settling and buying all the logistics needed for our programme. As our final event draws closer, we’re thankful that we’ll always have the logistics team to have our backs! They have also been busy with creating the various sculptures needed for the final event (happening on the 10, 11 and 12 of January next year! *gasps*) as well as creating and designing the booths. Some concerns that have been voiced out include them having difficulties trying to meet as a group (as it’s a very packed season!) and them having difficulties trying to figure out how to spend the budget wisely as the budget given may not be enough to cover the costs of our entire programme! Despite all this, thank you logistics team for always ensuring everything is in place when executing the programme!  

While we’re on the topic of the execution of the programme, we have the program team to thank for all the planning involved! Without you guys, all of us would have been lost long ago! The program team have been spending the holidays discussing the planning of the carnival (our final event) and making changes to the performances! (stay tuned to find out more!) Don’t all of this sound very exciting? I can’t wait to see what amazing things they’ve come up with for the carnival! Like the logistics team, they have also been finding it difficult to meet as a group, but kudos to them for still managing to get a lot of things done despite all the difficulties!

Speaking of being able to get things done despite facing a lot of hardships, we have the sponsorship team back stronger than ever! Despite facing adversities such as not getting a response from some organizations and being able to secure some items but them not being suitable for our goodie bags, the sponsorship team did not give up and have been hard at work sourcing for as well as emailing (and sent for vetting) more sponsors for our event! Thank you for your hard work and dedication sponsorship team! We really appreciate it! As mentioned earlier, they’ve been busy this week collecting the goodie bag items and settling the t-shirts (as revealed in our earlier blog posts) needed for our carnival. Wow! There really is no time to rest when executing such a big programme as this! Good job everyone!

Now, the last team who, like all the other teams, have played a huge role in ensuring the success of the programme is the Documenters team! The week was spent doing up the previous blog post (*coughs* have you read it yet? *coughs*) and doing up the upcoming blog post! We’ve also been spending our holidays discussing on how to film for the upcoming carnival as well as editing and compiling future videos! We spent the previous week distressfully as there were so many things to do but so little time! We had 2 videos that needed to be edited and subbed as well as a blog post to write. Despite all that, congrats us for being able to do all that on time!

With the updates out of the way, here comes the main event of the week, the Food Bank Warehouse! However, I’m sure all that earlier on was a lot to digest! Therefore… for this week’s main event, we’ll tell you all about it in a video! (yay!)

Hope you guys enjoyed the video!! Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas and Happy New Year!! Till next time!!

Signing off,

Naj (documenters team)

[foodpath-blog1]

Food Collection Drive

This week at Foodpath

Ehyooooooo! Another week, another post! This week’s post will be covering mainly Day 2 of the food collection and the individual’s weekly updates from each group.

Alrighty then! Let us dive right into the main event of this week- Day 2 of Yishun Food Collection(16 Dec). For this week’s food collection, we visited different blocks as we had done from the last week’s with a few special units - some of which we had already visited. So the collection was largely similar, with Foodpath being split into groups and then into pairs, with each group being assigned different blocks and each pair assigned different units. If yall have read the previous post  (I hope you did hehe), we have learned from those challenges and worked upon them, refining our methods to be more efficient and effective. For example, the addition of an excel sheet to facilitate which units to revisit later on in the day in hopes of them being present, and how we started later hoping that more people would be home. However, having said that, similarly to life, when one problem gets resolved, another hundred pops up. In this case, a misallocation in blocks leading to some repeated blocks getting covered. Thankfully, with the quick decision making of both the ICs of that day, and the quick thinking of the Programs team, work was very quickly shifted around. Emphasizing on how important it is to always be ready for last minute changes and trusting your ICs! Bravo guys! *Claps in admiration*

Feelings from Day 2 were largely similar- we continued to get surprised by both the friendliness and kindness of the people. There was the willingness to share even when they might not seem to be the wealthiest of families. At the same time, due to there being more units than last week, all of us were constantly hot on our heels knocking on one unit after the other, getting more rejuvenated after each willing unit. Nonetheless, scenarios of rejection were still prevalent. But those moments only made us more motivated, pursuing those moments of heartwarming acceptance! To stare at dejection in the face, and to press forward! Hurrah! Some post-event reflections from the different groups would be that we are glad mostly due to how good the acceptance rate was, and that everyone’s efforts have paid off. When asked about a word to describe the experience, words like “Heartwarming” and like “Touched” came up often. It was an exhausting one, but we are already halfway through the race. JIAYOUS!

With the main event out of the way~ let us go down to each team and check out the latest buzz. *Buzzes off* bzzzt bzzzt

“Thankful” Were the words spoken by the Programs team when asked to describe the past week that had just passed. Thankful for the amount of effort that all the other groups have been putting into making the entire project an excellent one. The ones with the ‘bird's eye view’ of the project have been busy with a plethora of tasks. From planning the Day 2 Collection (last week), to finalising components of the carnival (happening from the 10 to 12 of January 2018). Meanwhile, taking a breather here and there to review past executions like the Yishun portion of the project and deriving learning points that are both good and can be improve. Another big task that has been assigned to them would be liaising with various Co-Curricular Activities (CCA) for performances during the carnival. Making it an event that surely one would not want to miss!

Speaking of keeping up to date, the Documenters have been busy with this very Tumblr page, ensuring that you guys – our audience – are constantly kept up to date with the happenings of the project. Having said that, our past week were mostly packed with compiling and editing of videos for our video updates, always so deceivingly simple those little devils, challenging the capabilities of both our brains and the ever so elusive editing softwares.

Next up, the Logistics team have been occupied with things like the previously mentioned excel sheets and purchasing of logistics for our many events. So, other than frantically keeping track the receipts that are very much valuable for claiming, what other things have they been up to this week? Sculpture making and floorplan drafting that is! In view of the upcoming carnival. Logistics will be in charge of mainly the layout of our booths, makings things go where they are best to be. And on top of that, they have been putting in effort in preparing very interesting things for the carnival too.

Speaking of upcoming things of excitement, the Sponsorship team has been hard at work! Brainstorming and searching around for things that can be put into the Goodie Bag. YES! The same goodie bag YOU too can win after you participate in our Instagram competition or at the game booths at our carnival! Meanwhile also juggling communications with Foodpath’s very own sponsors (some of y’all out there!), and also managing the volunteers. Ensuring that every one of those helpful souls is well aware of where and when they need to be. Allowing for the previously mentioned food collection to be as successful as it was.

Last but not least, Team Publicity have been too getting their hands down and dirty with all the work: Having their regular social media posts on our various platforms, spreading our gospel to the world. Both coming up with creative methods (I overheard some things fitting to this festive timing :3) and communicating with Foodbank on how we should tackle a final video. Much like how a great preacher spreads his gospel to those outside, Team Publicity too has done work on the inside, putting up posters within NYP to tell them about the upcoming event!

That's all folks for this week’s update! Do watch our video on the food collection, and stay tuned as we will still be posting updates!

Well Wishes and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

-   Documentors (Joseph)

[foodpath-blog1]

NYP Outreach!

NYP Outreach and Food Collection

Hello! We are back here again and thanks for stopping by to listen to our updates.

So, you must have been wondering, what has the FoodPath team been up to this week? Well, besides all the teams being busy with our tasks, we had already started on the NYP outreach and we finally had our first food collection on Saturday! However, before we tell you guys all about our NYP outreach and food collection experiences, let’s first check in with all the teams on what they have been up to for this week! Let’s go!

Okay, let’s start with the program team. They have been busy liaising with performers and finalizing the booths for our upcoming carnival. Speaking of which, our carnival is drawing nearer so do continue to keep a lookout for it because I promise you, it is going to be exciting! Well, that is not the only thing they are busy with. They have also been hard at work planning for our food collection and also collating the Yishun outreach excels. It really was not easy as they had to organise the groupings, which units to collect food from, as well as to co-ordinate the entire collection. Not to mention, they are now busy looking through the feedbacks from the team to make the necessary changes to ensure a smoother second collection next week. Good job program team, you guys are doing great!

Another team who had played a huge role in our first food collection is none other than the logistics team! Without them, the transporting of food from the units to the holding points as well as to FoodBank itself would not have been smooth without their help! Okay, so what is the logs team up to? Well, they were busy collating the evaluations for the first food collection. Now, they have to update the logs list and the floorplan for the food carnival. Two other tasks left on their plate is to confirm with the program team about the NYP collection games as well as come up with the scenarios and objectives for the design of the mannequin. Thanks for helping us with the organization of the logistics for the carnival logs team!

Well, in the midst of food collection one can get thirsty, but lucky for the whole of the FoodPath team, we had water sponsored for the tiring two day food collection drive. Who can we thank for that? Yeap, that’s the sponsorship team! Okay, so besides obtaining sponsored bottled water for the food collection drive, they were also responsible for the management of the volunteers for the food collection drive and the days leading up to it. Not too long ago, all the FoodPathers collectively voted for the design of the shirt. After agreeing on the chosen design, the sponsorship team is now busy collating t-shirt sizes from all the teams and sourcing for a t-shirt vendor to get the shirts produced at an affordable price. All of us foodpathers have to admit that we can’t wait to receive our new shirts! They have also just sent out some emails to potential sponsors and are currently identifying other new potential sponsors for the food carnival.

Right now, we will be moving on to see what the publicity team is up to. Lately, they have been actively updating and posting on instagram. Speaking of that, do continue to check out the posts @foodpathnyp, and if you have not do follow us on all of our social media platforms. We would love to have you on our foodpath journey as well. The carnival is also coming up, so the pubs team had been busy creating the art works for the carnival poster. Last but not least, they are also meeting up with Foodbank to discuss on the final video, which they are currently working on.

So, now that we have shared with you what the other teams are up to, it’s now our turn!  As usual, we have been uploading tumblr posts every week, so do continue to check them out so that you can find out more interesting updates from the FoodPath team. Recently, as mentioned above, we just had our first week of NYP outreach and we are still thinking of how to film it. Do not worry, we will eventually think of some great ideas like we always do. The video for the lecture hopping and briefing of the volunteers by spons team will be out by this week, so do check that out as well!

Moving on to the highlight of this week! As we had promised, we will share with you on our NYP outreach and food collection.

For the NYP outreach, many of us Foodpathers felt that it was different from the Yishun outreach. During the Yishun outreach we mostly went door-to-door raising awareness about food wastage and asking them to help us with a survey. However, as every team did the outreach at different locations in NYP, we either faced an individual or groups of students unlike the usual door to door outreach that we are accustomed to during our Yishun outreach. At times, we do not know if the students are busy with their work or rather not be disturbed by our intrusion. Thus, we were unsure of who to reach out too.  Some of the students were rather rude thus it had somehow affected our confidence level and self-esteem to continue reaching out. Nonetheless, we continued to press on in our outreach and remain hopeful that our fellow students will come down to our carnival to support us!

As for the food collection, many of us were shocked at the amount of food that the residents donated to us. Some expected to collect more food, some expected to collect less, but nonetheless, many of us were touched by their generous donations. It was a heartwarming experience and we were very thankful as some of the residents not only remembered, but some even went an extra mile to buy more food so that they can donate to us - something we did not expect. Despite it being a kind gesture on their part, we did remind them not to do so during the outreach but they still chose to buy more food when they found nothing in their pantry to donate. However, for those residents that did not remember, we were glad that they still took the time and effort to search through their kitchens to find food items to donate to us.

Well, besides that, programs team is hoping that the next food collection will be smoother. Due to unforeseen circumstances along the way during the first food collection, we encountered small hurdles but manage to overcome them. Examples of such would be conducting the food collection too early that some residents are still soundly asleep and how the door to door food collection ended earlier than predicted. Taking into account what we had experienced during the first food collection drive, we will further improve on the subsequent one. Well done to all Foodpathers- to those that organized and participated in the food collection drive!

The food collection may have been tiring, but it was definitely worth it! Till next time!

Signing off,

[foodpath-blog1]

YISHUN OUTREACH

Greetings fellow readers!

Welcome back to the latest updates on our programme! All the teams have been hard at work for the past week. Good job everyone for your efforts!! Let us take a dive into what each group has done for the week, shall we?

Apart from planning and submitting proposals for our carnival games and activity booths, the program team have been hard at work collating the compiled roles and due dates of each team. This means that there is no slacking off for the teams as there is specific work to be completed at specified times. The team also made clarifications and revised the procedures for the outreach and surveys. The team has also been working with Food Bank (The organisation we are working with) on the food collection details and Food Pantry sale. For this sale, you can purchase food items at one dollar each! So do remember to check that out. Invitations have been sent to invite CCA groups and performers for the carnival and food drive happening on the 10th to 12th January 2018 at NYP. I am looking at you dance fans!

Have you looked at our awesome pamphlet design yet? If no, do check out the awesome work that publicity team has done on last week’s post! Don’t forget to catch up on our Instagram stories to view the outreach process! Meanwhile, the team is awaiting approval from Diana for the carnival poster and promotional video script. As we draw closer to the date of food collection, we will have more updates to share with you!

Did you know, Food Path have our very own in house designed T- shirt! Thank you sponsorship team! A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! With the T - shirt design confirmed, efforts are now directed to sourcing for a company to print them. The emails to potential sponsors have been edited and awaiting approval to be sent. Besides searching for sponsors, the team also manages volunteers. By manage I mean looking for volunteers, grouping them, and briefing them on their roles.

Some of you students from NYP may recall Social Work students visiting your lectures to share more about Food Path. Well, you can thank logistics team for taking charge of lecture hopping. They meticulously crafted the schedule and slides. Updates have also been made to the food collection proposal such as inclusion of photos and wet weather plans. The team also proposed ideas for the designing of sculptures and a presentation was done to inform the rest of the teams on these updates.

Lastly and humbly, let us talk to the team writing the posts: The documenters. For this week, we finished the blog post for week 7 and began writing the blog post for week 8. We had also filmed the Yishun outreach process and created a strategy for our future posts. We are currently brainstorming ideas for our next video but that shall remain a secret for now. Stay tuned for more updates!

Here’s also a recap of our outreach experience:

We are generally satisfied with the experience. The residents we talked to were more interested about food donation than we thought they would and wanted to buy things specifically for the event due to lack of unwanted food at home. We were also glad that we planned to revisit the blocks on a weekend because we had so many more doors open.

On the other hand, there were a group of blocks undergoing renovation hence were less willing to open the doors for us. At the same time, the stress to juggle between projects is real as many of our members have to conduct outreach at night after their project meetings.

Some challenges we faced also include the timing.  It may not be suitable for residents as they may be sleeping, praying, eating dinner or still at work. Additionally, some of the residents faced a loss of attention and agitation when we described the information in the pamphlet to them. When we picked up these non-verbal cues, we would cut out some details that we planned to cover and focus more on the collection day. Lastly, we encountered some residents who could only speak in chinese dialects or tamil but luckily for us one of our members can speak it well.

Despite our fatigue, we were glad for the exposure. As future Social Work Associates, outreach and home visits are very common. Perhaps, this learning experience will help us to be prepared for our futures ahead!

Let’s see how the outreach went for a few of the pairs in the teams!

Signing off,

The Documenters (Lucian)

[foodpath-blog1]

REMOTE PLACES & PAMPHLETS

Hello, hello! We’re back again!

It is currently week 7 of our school semester and things down here are starting to

speed up! Well, at least it’s better than remaining stagnant and going nowhere! Last week, we finally started our first supervised consultation with Diana where each group had a meeting of their own with her, updating her on how things are going, obstacles that they faced and overcame, or have yet to be fixed.

Now with a clearer vision of where to head to, what is everyone busy with this week?

Let’s start things off with the logistics team.

Other than finalizing the floor plan of our carnival, the logistics team has finally started lecture hopping!

Wait, lecture hopping?

Well, at the start of the program, the logistics team had came up with the idea of “lecture hopping” which involves going to lectures of different courses from different schools to publicize the upcoming carnival as well as to raise awareness of food wastage using a few PowerPoint slides in the span of as little as 5 minutes. This can happen anytime within the lecture – from the start, to the middle, to the end – but of course, with the lecturer’s consent. Although the School of Health Sciences (SHS) was the only school that we managed to get a hold of, the logistics team has put a lot of effort into contacting as many lecturers as they can through friends of different courses. Thank you, logs!

Speaking of lecture hopping, we were discussing the topic during our (the documenters) first supervision with Diana. Having heard that lecture hopping for all the schools may be challenging, we came up with an alternative plan, suggesting to publicize the carnival by reaching out to students all over the campus and speaking to them about it through a digital pamphlet. At the end of it all, we’d get them do the survey we had put up on Google Forms a few weeks ago that was meant to assess the NYP staff and students' current level of awareness on food wastage. Where exactly in NYP? Anywhere, really – from our home (the library), any of the schools, canteens, heck, even the bathrooms! Well, maybe not. But you get the point.

Through this NYP outreach, we get to tell them about the carnival and gauge their awareness on food wastage through the online survey. We had put the survey up online because

Save the trees!

Save the budget!

Makes it easier for us to send the survey through WhatsApp to get even more responses.

Thank you, technology!

In other news from our group is that, wait, have you watched our video yet? If not, then scroll yourself to the first post – but wait till you finish reading the post ;•)

There was quite a bit of panic from our side than we’d like to admit. We had problems with the audio, slip of tongues, and choppy editing that had to be redone. In short, it was a lot more difficult than we thought it would be – but hey, we’ve all gotta start somewhere, right?

Now onto our sponsorship team!

On November 15th, we had our Social Work Annual General Meeting. Through that, the sponsorship team had done up slides to help recruit volunteers from both year 1 and year 2, relying on their influential strength to encourage our coursemates to come onboard this project and to help out with both our food collection drive in Yishun and our carnival in NYP. This shows the power of the Social Work team, and the culture of needing to tap on our social networks to bring in additional aid for our event.

They’ve also started working on the goodie bags by deciding what items to put in it as well as reaching out to sponsors to get those items. Good luck, Sponsies!

How about our good ol’ program team?

During the past week, each team has been coming up with a timeline specifically for their group, and it’s been the program team’s job to compile those little timelines to form the big one! We would post it here but we’re sure it’d only bore you to tears, so let’s forgo that!

Last week, the team had also went on a trial outreach and gave us some tips on how to speak with residents, and came up with the procedure of what to do given different circumstances when each team goes out for outreaches on their own – such as what to do when no one’s at home or we are refused to be spoken to, the average time it takes per unit. Thanks, Progs!

Besides settling the dates for outreach of all teams, the programs team has also been working on the game booths that’ll both entertain and educate you when we see you at our carnival! ;•)

Last but certainly not the least, the publicity team.

They’ve been busy coming up posters for the carnival, and also has helped us documenters to customize our current Yishun outreach pamphlet so that the revamped pamphlet would better suit our recipients from NYP (and within very short notice, too! Thank you, Pubs!).

In more exciting news, the approved pamphlet for our Yishun outreach has finally been printed with a total of 2,000 copies!

Let’s take a journey with the publicity team on their quest to collect pamphlets from a rather remote place in Woodlands :•)

Look at how pretty the pamphlet is!

So now that we’ve gotten it, what does it mean?

It means that we’ll finally be able to start outreach in Yishun! And we’ll be keeping you posted on that so go on and follow our Facebook and Instagram pages so you’ll know when this little Tumblr has been updated ;•)

So, till next time!

Signing off,

The Documenters (Jas)

[foodpath-blog1]

Introduction to FoodPath

Hello there! Thanks for stumbling upon our blog and reading what we have to say. We are a group of year 2 students from the Diploma in Social Sciences (Social Work) in Nanyang Polytechnic. This semester, we have a module called Community Engagement where we were tasked to plan and execute a considerably large-scale program to, well, engage the community! This year, our cohort size is larger than usual and thus, instead of a large cohort-planned program, we’ve been split into 2. It’s new, it’s different – but it won’t be any less. So, what’s our side of the cohort doing? Before we start getting to that, let’s tell you about something else.

With every program in Community Engagement, there comes an organization we are working with, and we are working with none other than Food Bank.

Food Bank was founded in August 2012 and strives to bridge the gap in the market by collecting food left unsold in the market (such as hotels, restaurants, food industry donors and charities with excess donations) and providing it to beneficiaries to help people in need of food. It also runs a centralised warehouse, distributing food to charities (think Family Service Centers, Senior Activity Centers, Soup Kitchens). Despite the growing donations, there is still much area to cover & this program aims to create a ripple in the ocean.

Have you gotten a little bit of an idea of what we’re doing this year? Well, let us formally introduce you to FoodPath.

“What is FoodPath?” you may wonder. Centering in on Nanyang Polytechnic and an area in Yishun, FoodPath is a programme that is dedicated to raising awareness of the food wastage issue in Singapore along with conducting a food collection drive in the aforementioned areas. Why the name FoodPath? Well, we’ll save that for a little later.

So who are the people behind this program, dedicating countless hours and sleepless nights to ensuring that this program is a success?

Well, let’s introduce ourselves first, the group of people who had crafted this post behind their screens.

The Documenting Team!

Hello! We are the Documenting Team! Also known as the Documenters, we are (starting from top left) Sherine, Najihah, Lucian (Yao Zong), Jodi, Aisyah, Joseph, and Jasmine!

Armed with our laptops (and if not laptops — a pen and some paper instead!) during every session, we diligently take down what’s discussed during the meeting. Other than documenting everything through text, we also take photos and videos to keep all of you posted weekly on what’s happening during the planning of our program, letting you live the planning process vicariously through our posts.

Speaking of photos and videos… doesn’t another team do just that?

That’s right! It’s the Publicity Team!

The publicity team comprises of (from top left) An Qi, Shawn, David, Evelyn, Simran, Afrina, and Mei Yuan!

These are the people behind the FoodPath Instagram and Facebook (speaking of which, have you followed us yet?), and through these platforms, they engage with all of you — through pictures, videos, posters you name it — and try to excite you and anticipating the big event happening right in NYP.

They are also the creators behind the nifty pamphlets that will be handed out during our outreaches in Yishun, ensuring the message will be brought across as precisely and coherently.

Credits also go to them for coming up with the name FoodPath.

When asked for a comment in this post, they responded with: “Lets go to the PUBS to get some drinks”. How very thoughtful.

So, how ever in the world did they come up with a name like FoodPath though? And what in the world does it even mean? Well, you’ll find that out in a bit.

So, uh… this is kinda weird to do in the middle of the blog post but…. I kinda need a table. Who am I gonna call!?

The Logistics Team!

Here we have (starting from left) Teck Kang, Sky, Hazirah, Michelle, Farhanah, and Farah!

These are the people who compile the program’s logistic needs and ensures that everything is ready before the program’s big days.

Also probably the fittest team as they’ll be busy running around during the collection and event days, ensuring that everything is right where it needs to be and attending to whomever that needs their help logistically.

When asked for a comment in this post, they responded with: “Your Sai Kang Warriors.” For they truly are our Sai Kang warriors.

So hey, what does every program need? Something to attract people to come by…. That’s right, freebies! Who’s taking care of that?

That’s right! The Sponsorship Team!

Here in the sponsorship team we have (from left of back row) Germaine, Julian, Bryan, Kai Ling, Daren, Rasyiqah, and Odelia!

These people are in charge of helping the logistics team outsource items, and also somehow working their magic to get those items inside that bag you’ll be carrying when you visit us during our event day in NYP! Oh, whatever will be inside? Well, let’s leave that up to the sponsorship team to surprise you!

Other than outsourcing items for that handy dandy bag, they’re also in charge of outsourcing and managing volunteers that will help us during our collections and event day.

When asked for a comment in this post, they couldn’t decide what to say so they provided us with 2 instead – how very generous of them. They said: “No fork? we are your SPOoN!!” as well as “The anSOR to your needs”. At this point we had banned groups from coming up with any puns for we felt they they had abused their right to speak on this post.

We’ve spoken of all but 1 team. The team that oversees everything and without them, there would be no program!

Introducing the final team — the Program and Finance team!

Comprising of (from top left) Anthea, Sylvia, Winky, Dishalani, Yixin, and Yufei!

Just as the name says, the team responsible for managing the entirety of the program — from choosing venues, planning schedules, to making sure that everyone is keeping to schedule and everything is going as planned. With the “finance” part coming into play by making sure the program is kept within its tiny budget. Oh, so much luck to them.

When asked for a comment in this post, they responded with: “We love slime! squack squack squack.” Very wise words, indeed.

But of course, the program is not entirely ran by students. The havoc and ruckus is contained by Social Science’s newest lecturer: Diana Wee.

Diana has recently started teaching in NYPSW and was a program facilitator prior to this, thus her expertise in planning programs such as this. She keeps our feet on the ground and advises us throughout the program — but not too much where she’s babying us. She allows us to think things through ourselves and come up with decisions on our own and putting them into play.

So, enough with the introductions! What actually has happened during the past few weeks? A few nights ago every team was in a state of panic to finish up the program’s proposal, but with the additional panic for us, the Documenters, as we have been given the duty to touch up and organize the entire proposal — this meant in the team on Skype and typing frantically behind their screens and ensuring everything is as coherent as possible. Yes, we did manage to finish it before the deadline.

Also, remember the pamphlet done by the publicity team that we spoke of earlier on? Well, after a couple weeks, it has finally been approved! What does that mean? It means that we can finally start with outreaching to the blocks in Yishun! [cue applause]

Following the outreach will be the collection day, but as that goes on, do keep your eyes peeled at our FoodPath Instagram and Facebook to ensure that you’re getting updates on from both us and the publicity team!

But before we bid you goodbye for now…

Oh, what’s this? A video? Looks like we’re not done just yet! Remember how we didn’t tell you how we came up with the name of Food Path? Well, go on and click it to find out! Plus, you’ll get to know a few individuals involved in this program and a few other things we hadn’t mentioned in this post.

We hope you’ve enjoyed both our rather lengthy post and video. Stay tuned for more!

Signing off,

The Documenters (Jas)