Contrary to popular belief, audit life is not always all work and no play. Kah Yee Ang, our Senior Manager in the General Assurance practice, finds balance through purposeful and meaningful work with various charities.
What inspired you to volunteer with the PwC Singapore Foundation?
Participating in volunteering activities provide me with a sense of purpose and motivation for both my personal and professional life. It helps that the Firm's Responsible Business Team has curated various types of volunteering activities with different charities- ranging from food packing, skills training to monthly hikes- which allows me to participate in activities that are interesting to me.
Kah Yee together with other PwC volunteers packing goodie bags at Community Chest Fu Dai 2023.
What did you do to prepare for the volunteer activities?
This largely depends on the nature of the volunteering activities. For example, I participated in a digital upskilling workshop for ex-offenders with HCSA Community Services. We were tasked to provide skills training to the beneficiaries on using basic digital apps like Gmail, so we prepared slide decks and other learning materials for the sessions. We also conducted a dry run on how the session will be conducted to ensure that the session will be able to proceed smoothly.
One of the volunteers teaching the HCSA beneficiaries how to use mobile apps.
What’s something that surprised you - either about yourself or the people you volunteered with?
When I volunteered for the Art Challenge activities with Young Men’s Christian Association's (YMCA) of Singapore beneficiaries for the first time, I was quite nervous as I thought I had to be good at art. To my pleasant surprise, the beneficiaries are actually pretty good at drawing. Some of them could even draw much better than us. My role as a volunteer is mainly to encourage the beneficiaries to complete their artwork during the session, and keep them motivated throughout the session as some of them can have quite short attention spans. For example, I will show the beneficiaries some pictures and references on what they can draw based on the theme assigned by the main instructor.
One of the regular Art Challenge sessions on Saturdays with YMCA’s youths with special needs.
How would you continue your volunteering journey?
I will continue to keep a look out for various volunteering activities curated by the Firm's Responsible Business Team, and sign up for those activities that resonate with me.
Group photo at one of the food packing sessions with Food from the Heart.
