Loneliness is a burgeoning public health crisis among Singaporean seniors. Exacerbated by a greying population, shrinking family sizes, and increased social withdrawal, it can heighten the risk of depression, cardiovascular disease, and even premature death.
After watching his mother battle loneliness in her 50s, Aaron Yeoh set up Cycling Without Age Singapore (CWAS) in 2017. The registered charity aims to alleviate loneliness among seniors through recreational mobility in the form of volunteer-piloted trishaw rides. It regularly partners with Active Ageing Centres and robust volunteer efforts have enabled it to serve more than 11,000 seniors since inception.
Previously in sales, Yeoh pivoted to social entrepreneurship following a trip to rural Cambodia to help build toilets and improve sanitation standards. “That experience inspired me to go beyond my comfort zone,” he recounts. As CEO of CWAS, he oversees everything from fundraising and communications to partnerships and community development. The organisation currently has five full-time employees and relies heavily on the help of volunteers.
Although costlier, e-powered trishaws are used because they allow senior volunteers to take other seniors on rides more effortlessly, Yeoh explains. He hopes to transform beneficiaries into contributors by grooming them into volunteer leaders with greater responsibilities.
“This will make the initiative ‘seniors for seniors’. I want to eventually profile them as active ageing champions so they can influence their peers. This is all to achieve the audacious goal of ending senior loneliness and fostering a sense of belonging.”
Aaron Yeoh on the importance of active ageing
CWAS currently has 25 e-powered trishaws in its fleet and rides take place up to four times a week at Gardens by the Bay, Yishun, Jurong, and Ang Mo Kio, with some 30 active volunteers for each area. The charity works with grassroots organisations and landowners to secure parking spaces for the vehicles within those neighbourhoods so that volunteers have easy access to the trishaws.
While Yeoh wants to proliferate the programme in more neighbourhoods, fundraising has been especially challenging as CWAS addresses mental health, he lets on. “Unlike physical illnesses, one’s mental health state can be invisible. The symptoms are not immediately apparent to an outside observer.”
As such, the charity will soon introduce social enterprise models to achieve financial sufficiency, implement digitalisation to enhance service delivery to all stakeholders, and ramp up partnerships with grassroots and corporate organisations to drive sustainable change in alleviating loneliness in seniors. It is in the process of engaging external consultants to help optimise a three-year plan.
Yeoh is also the founder of nonprofit organisations Etch Empathy and Fortitude Culina. Etch Empathy holds community leadership workshops for youths while Fortitude Culina trains and hires persons with disability to create career opportunities and provide fair employment. There is a lot on his plate but he makes time for himself by jogging, cycling, and “hunting for good food”.
His elevator pitch as to why one should consider volunteering with CWAS is equal parts practical and heartfelt. “Prolonged loneliness can lead to anxiety and depression, and it’s no fun ageing with these issues. We can choose to live a life with no regrets by ageing with joy, purpose, and dignity instead.”
Photography Mun Kong
Art direction Annalisa Espino Lim
Hair Sarah Tan using Goldwell
Makeup Keith Bryant Lee using Shiseido
Photography assistant Melvin Leong
