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SINGAPORE: For many, festive seasons like Christmas and the upcoming Chinese New Year celebrations are a time for spring cleaning and getting rid of unwanted belongings.

As a result, some local organisations said they have seen a substantial jump in donations of secondhand items.

Other charities like the Boys’ Brigade in Singapore, however, said they face some challenges.

It told CNA that it has met just about half of its target for donations this year.

“We have enough rice … and instant noodles, but what we're short of are things like beverages, halal canned food, biscuits and cookies. So if we can have more of these donations, that would be helpful to us,� said Mr Desmond Koh, executive director of Boys’ Brigade Singapore.

For this festive season, its volunteers, including students involved in the uniformed group, have prepared hampers that will go to 51,185 beneficiaries this year – the highest number that it has served.

However, the charity does not have enough volunteers who can drive to deliver the hampers, which comprise items like rice, canned food and biscuits.

This spurred it to come up with a new strategy to make it more convenient for volunteers: On-foot delivery.

“This year, what we did was we actually organised deliveries near the locations we wanted to send the hampers to,� said Mr Koh.

“We'll bring the hampers there, and the volunteers (can) sign up, report there and help us do the delivery instead, so they're not confined without having a vehicle to drive and bring the hampers to those locations.�

However, despite such efforts, more than 60 per cent of delivery slots stretching till the end of the year are still vacant, Mr Koh added.

USING SOCIAL MEDIA, WORD-OF-MOUTH

Another organisation that works with migrant workers is roping in volunteers to help wrap gifts for a target of 1 million recipients.

ItsRainingRaincoats said it was able to get a team of about 100 helpers through social media and word-of-mouth.

The charity’s head of operations Vrinda Dhingra said it has been organising visits to various work sites to bring the community together, including workers and citizens.

“Think about it - if you are in a foreign country all by yourself and not having enough means to support yourself or just go out for a meal on Christmas or celebrating New Year's with your friends and family … if we put ourselves in their shoes, we understand and we realise and we value the kind of feelings that they go through,� she added.

While the charity has enough volunteers to help during this period, Ms Vrinda said that beyond the festive seasons, it requires a constant flow of volunteers to maintain its outreach efforts.

JUMP IN CONTRIBUTIONS, REUSABILITY OF ITEMS

Meanwhile, humanitarian organisation Singapore Red Cross told CNA it is seeing a 20 to 30 per cent rise in people donating second-hand items during the festive season.

Donations of reusable items have also doubled from 40 per cent last year to 80 per cent this year.

The organisation said it has carried out more corporate outreach efforts and exercised better regulation over the items it receives. Greater public awareness on sustainability efforts has also led to more people deciding to donate.

“One (reason) is staff doing something meaningful to support the local community,� said Singapore Red Cross’ head of resource development Johnny Tang.

“I think secondly, we also (saw) many people buy items during the COVID period, so a lot of items have also stacked up at home. And they realise that now it's time for them - after two, three years - to give it away.�

Items are either donated straight to vulnerable communities or sold with proceeds going to these beneficiaries.

With the higher volume of contributions this year, Singapore Red Cross said it has also grown its pool of volunteers by 40 per cent.

Local start-up Thryft said it is also seeing more contributions of secondhand items, reaching up to 30 per cent more on-year.

It sells preloved books, clothes and vinyl records both online and at its physical store that opened a few months ago along Lower Delta Road in Telok Blangah.

During the festive period, the thrift store receives around 1,500 items a week, ranging from clothes, books and even vinyl records. About 70 per cent of the items can be used again, with the rest sent for recycling.

Proceeds from 20 per cent of the contributions go to non-profit organisations.

To meet the growing volume, Thryft has also developed its own software using artificial intelligence to increase productivity by categorising the items it receives.

“It also helps us in terms of processing when we have to take photos of products,â€� said Thyrft Â鶹´«Ã½ co-founder Eddie Lim.

“After we take the photo, for example, we can automatically crop and enhance the photo. This reduces the time that's needed for us to bring this into the online store, so that users can see certain pieces of information.�