We’ve gone digital! In keeping with the times, the changing profiles of our members and the need to save costs (and the earth), we have decided to take the bold step of dispensing with the hard copy of Keeping Abreast.
Our rationale is simple. Besides saving the earth, we will be saving our coffers by shaving off almost $10,000 annually on design, printing and postage, not to mention the volunteer labour involved in stamp pasting and lugging hundreds of copies to the post office. Often it included involving members’ children!
The decision to go digital was not made on a whim and a fancy whilst the committee was sitting around having a cuppa. It has been hotly debated for a few years and whilst there are the die-hards who want hard copy (frankly, me included!) editions, the argument for cost and space savings was more compelling. Ok, to elaborate further. We print 1000 copies per issue yet only 400 get sent out. So yes, we will be saving space too!
The trade-off to this move is that new members who join no longer have a hard-copy print of the KA as a benefit. But we figured that if we had good stuff to share, why not share it with all moms! We are very happy if you feel like passing on your KA Digital to your friends but I do hope that when you do so, please consider the volunteers who spend time and effort to put every issue together. A small donation to help us along will be most greatly appreciated.
Before we close off the year, we would like to share a little of what BMSG has done for the year and are continuing to do. We held 2 events, namely World Breastfeeding Week 2010 and Diana West’s “Making More Milk” lunch workshop. They were 2 hugely successful events and we are very happy for the support shown. Behind the scenes, BMSG has been quietly working to train confinement nannies from 2 agencies, so that confinement nannies are better able to support moms. We have also been working with various agencies, such as Health Promotion Board (HPB) and NTUC to help promote breastfeeding in the community.
Within BMSG, we had updated and printed our new bilingual English – Chinese edition of the free Breastfeed booklets and almost all 10,000 copies were distributed to various hospitals, clinics and some retail merchants. We are hoping to revamp Practical Hints to Breastfeeding and will likely work with a publisher to bring this to fruition in the next few years. Then there is our website which we are in the process of revamping. We also provide articles for various journalists, who come around asking for information.
We had plans to reach all gynaecologists in Singapore with a tear-sheet project where each antenatal mom would receive an information sheet on breastfeeding. We shelved this because the HPB would be introducing exciting stuff from next year, and we did not want to duplicate effort.
Our workshops continue to run every quarter and this year, we introduced Robert to our participants. Robert is one of our members’ husband and he shares about the important role of fathers in breastfeeding. We were very heartened to know that fathers perked up during his segment and were happy to hear what he had to share. In addition, we also conduct workshops for other agencies as and when required.
We also have the daily administrative matters to deal with. As you all know by now, we no longer have a staff. To give you an idea, we will need to set aside a minimum of $25,000 to $35,000 in staff cost if we take on a staff. With funds barely trickling in from members of the public, we can ill afford to be blasé about hiring. Realistically speaking, the person who sits in the office has to be someone who is looking more for self-achievement and is truly passionate. Otherwise, there are tons more jobs out there that pay much much better and it wouldn’t be long before another job calleth.
Hiring has to be a measured decision. And that was the sole reason why the bulk of the administrative work currently falls on me although I have taken on this task most willingly.
Going forward, we are looking for volunteers to help in these particular areas of work:
- Administrative
- Pump Demonstrations
- Workshop coordinating
If you feel the passion within you to help take some of the burden off my shoulders so that I can continue to look at the macro development of BMSG, then I really urge you to email me at office@breastfeeding.org.sg Just do remember that it’s about helping moms because you’ve been there and done that and you are now paying it forward!
We are also looking for volunteers who really feel the passion to join us in 3 committees:
- WBW 2011 (August)
- Flag Day 2011 (August)
- Exco (March)
Again, there’s nothing like planning ahead of time. If we start to plan early, we will have a much easier time looking for sponsors and funds. We can also spread out the work over months so that it is not a concentrated time of mayhem! Therefore, I do ask for volunteers now to step up to the plate to help us move forward with new ideas and new plans!
Well, that’s all from me for now. You will of course hear from me every so often in emails and I hope that you will continue to support us.
Till the next time, Happy Holidays!
Warmest Regards
Angeline Wee-Yew
