What is more blissful than having a loved one to spend your Valentine’s Day with?
Having a life partner, who shares the same passions as you!
Meet Tony and Su Lin, long time SOSD volunteers who have been with us even before SOSD Rehabilitation Centre (SRC) even existed. If you find this husband and wife team familiar, you have good reason to – Su Lin is SOSD’s Shelter Officer, the overall volunteer-in-charge for SRC. When Su started volunteering, SOSD did not even have a volunteer programme. Through her dedication and hard work, SOSD now has the largest and most comprehensive shelter volunteer programme in Singapore. Besides 200 volunteers who walk the shelter dogs 5 days a week, she also heads a team which also rehabilitates new rescues to allow them to be adopted into homes.
Similarly, Tony is no stranger as well. He heads the shelter tour team – which conducts tours of SRC to the public fortnightly. In addition, he heads SOSD’s transport team, and is the volunteer in charge of Education & outreach, one of SOSD’s largest departments.
With so much volunteer work to do, you will not see Tony and Su holidaying in the Maldives to relax and bond. Instead, they bond over their common passion – to make Singapore a better place for its homeless dogs. In their free time, you will see them in SOSD’s shelter busy performing their volunteer work, hosting a get-together for other volunteers, or making a trip to Pulau Ubin – Tony & Su are 2 of the main volunteers involved in the Pulau Ubin Sterilisation Project (Project SOUND), which has successfully sterilised almost all the dogs on Pulau Ubin for population control. At home, they spend time together with their canine companions and fostered dogs from SOSD.
Where does Tony find his motivation to volunteer?
“My fellow volunteers are my pillars of strength. Their self-sacrificing ways, consistent effort they put into their volunteering, and their encouragement of one another are constant reminders that what I do at SOSD is never about me, but always…always about the dogs. As for my wife, my best friend, my soulmate, she is my ultimate “volunteer” where SOSD is concerned.”
Happy Valentine’s Day, from all of us, at SOSD!
