Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia. The Department of Neurology at National Neuroscience Institute (NNI) shares some of the signs and symptoms to look out for.
Anjana Motihar Chandra
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Alzheimer's
symptoms, especially during the mild stage, are not easy to recognise and can be confused with normal ageing.
Alzheimer's disease: Most common form of dementia
Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia and accounts for about 70 per cent of all cases. In an Alzheimer's patient, the brain cells degenerate gradually and eventually die, causing memory loss and a decline in other mental functions which affect day-to-day functioning.
This progressive brain disease usually occurs in older people, with symptoms typically appearing after the age of 60. However, there are a small number of patients who may develop Alzheimer's early, between the ages of 30 to 60. This is known as early onset Alzheimer's.
There are three general stages of the disease – mild, moderate and severe – and it may take years for the patient to progress from one stage to the next. Research suggests that the changes in the brain related to Alzheimer's can begin as much as a decade or more before symptoms first appear.
"The course of Alzheimer's differs from patient to patient but the disease is usually diagnosed at the mild stage. Alzheimer's causes brain cells to die and the affected brain regions to shrink in size. The damage is irreversible," says Adj Assoc Prof Hameed.
Signs and symptoms of Alzheimer's
The symptoms of Alzheimer's disease are not always easy to recognise and can be confused with normal ageing. One of the first signs of the disease is short-term memory loss with patients forgetting conversations and even where they live. Symptoms worsen at each stage of the disease.
The following are common signs and symptoms of Alzheimer's:
Mild Alzheimer's
Repeat questions
Have difficulty remembering directions and recognising surroundings
Have trouble handling money, paying bills and balancing a cheque book
Take more time than usual to complete daily tasks
Misplace everyday items, often keeping them in inappropriate places, e.g. putting keys or reading glasses in the refrigerator
Display mood and personality changes such as increased anxiety, restlessness and aggression
Have poor judgement, e.g. wear warm clothing on a scorching day
Moderate Alzheimer's:
Have long-term memory loss and forget their personal information such as name, occupation and date of birth
Forget common words and the names of everyday objects
Have trouble recognising family and friends
Be unable to learn new things
Have difficulty in carrying out tasks that involve several steps, e.g. bathing, getting dressed and cooking a meal
Have trouble coping with new situations
Experience hallucinations, delusions and become paranoid
Display impulsive behaviour
Severe Alzheimer's
Be unable to communicate
Groan and grunt
Have trouble swallowing food and eating
Have lack of control of bladder and bowels
Sleep most of the time
Develop skin infections
"In the final stage of the disease, Alzheimer's patients may be bedridden and completely dependent on caregivers," says Adj Assoc Prof Hameed.
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How are you doing today? I sent you an email yesterday, did you receive it? It is a very important message, anyway reply back to confirm that you already got my message to enable me to give you more details..
Teachers today are often faced with the challenge of students who just "give up" at the first sign of an academic challenge. They commonly hear things like "I don't know how to do this", "You didn't teach us this", " I can't do this" and "I am too stupid to do this". The student who will verbalize his/her thoughts allows the teacher to try to help him/her find success. Too often, however, students become academically frustrated and will act out in the classroom or just sit there and do nothing and say nothing. Students often lack the academic resiliency that comes from developing metacognition.
Metacognition is awareness and understanding of one's own thought processes. The ability to analyze one's own thoughts that lead to statements like "I don't know how to do this" and "I can't do this" allows for students to take better control of the learning and to begin to apply the skills and knowledge they have to the situation. Often times, if we begin to ask the student questions about what he/she does know how to do, what skills he/she has that can be applied, the student is then able to begin to attend to the work. However, what has often happened in the past, is that the student has been unsuccessful in attempting to do something new, gotten a grade that felt "bad" and it has created a sense of anxiousness about being "bad" again and so it is easier to not try it than to be "bad".
Carol Dweck's concept of "Not Yet" has helped many educators rethink grading and the concept of grades as either "good" or "bad". The power of the concept of not yet allows a student to be on a continuum to achieving "good" (learning) without the feeling of being "bad" (I failed again). The idea of allowing for mastery learning teaches students metacognition. Dweck's focus is on rewarding the process of learning more than the learning itself which allows students to develop metacognition through repeated successful learning experiences.
So, how does a teacher go about teaching metacognition in the classroom? The answer to that question varies but often we just have to modify what we do, not change it entirely. For example, many teachers currently use exit tickets at the conclusion of the lesson. By simply modifying the exit ticket to include questions like:Today my learning stopped because; today I considered a question, new idea or new perspective; and today I understood and learned allows students to gain insights into the process of learning as well as the actual content learned. Asking students to ask the group the question before asking the teacher to answer allows students to all discuss the thought process and work collaboratively to enhance each person's thinking as well help students "feel good" about their own ability to apply prior skills and knowledge to new situations.
Teachers also need to model our own metacognition strategies.How do I get ready for a think-aloud activity or a math problem? What do I do when I don't know what to do to answer a question or begin a project? Sharing our own metacognitive strategies helps others to develop their own.
We also know that mindfulness is being taught in many schools. Mindfulness is creating a mental state that is focused on the present moment and acknowledging one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations. So, if we are mindful of the present moment while we are learning, students are then able to create an awareness of how their own learning is taking place and what works to create meaning for them.Chris Was, of Kent State University, offers some strategies for having mindfulness and metacognition work together. Jostock and Rinke offer strategies on how to teach metacognition through mindfulness by promoting self-awareness and focus. The concept of having students self-identify learning styles as a first step is the first glimpse teachers get into the level of student metacognition.
As teachers, we have to begin at the beginning. Start the conversation by encouraging students to identify thoughts, feelings, and judgments about their own learning. Respond with challenges (you did very well on the last assignment we had), affirmations (it makes sense that you are feeling stressed because you have not yet done something like this) and ask them to identify a " tool" (metacognitive strategy) from their toolbox that can reduce stress and re-establish focus (mindfulness). The extrinsic modeling of these strategies over time will allow students to develop intrinsic metacognitive strategies that develop academic resilience and allow for learning to be maximized by the student.
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May I know that you sell laboratory equipment centrifuges?
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Infectious disease can be devastating, and sometimes fatal, to the host. In this part of the chapter we will briefly examine the stages of infection, and the various types of infectious agents.
The process of infection can be broken down into stages, each of which can be blocked by different defense mechanisms. In the first stage, a new host is exposed to infectious particles shed by an infected individual. The number, route, mode of transmission, and stability of an infectious agent outside the host determines its infectivity. Some pathogens, such as anthrax, are spread by spores that are highly resistant to heat and drying, while others, such as the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), are spread only by the exchange of bodily fluids or tissues because they are unable to survive as infectious agents outside the body.
The first contact with a new host occurs through an epithelial surface. This may be the skin or the internal mucosal surfaces of the respiratory, gastro-intestinal, and urogenital tracts. After making contact, an infectious agent must establish a focus of infection. This involves adhering to the epithelial surface, and then colonizing it, or penetrating it to replicate in the tissues (Fig. 10.2, left-hand panels). Many microorganisms are repelled at this stage by innate immunity. We have discussed the innate immune defense mediated by epithelia and by phagocytes and complement in the underlying tissues in Chapter 2. Chapter 2 also discusses how NK cells are activated in response to intracellular infections, and how a local inflammatory response and induced cytokines and chemokines can bring more effector cells and molecules to the site of an infection while preventing pathogen spread into the blood. These innate immune responses use a variety of germline-encoded receptors to discriminate between microbial and host cell surfaces, or infected and normal cells. They are not as effective as adaptive immune responses, which can afford to be more powerful on account of their antigenspecificity. However, they can prevent an infection being established, or failing that, contain it while an adaptive immune response develops.
Infections and the responses to them can be divided into a series of stages. These are illustrated here for an infectious microorganism entering across an epithelium, the commonest route of entry. The infectious organism must first adhere to epithelial (more...)
Only when a microorganism has successfully established a site of infection in the host does disease occur, and little damage will be caused unless the agent is able to spread from the original site of infection or can secrete toxins that can spread to other parts of the body. Extracellular pathogens spread by direct extension of the focus of infection through the lymphatics or the bloodstream. Usually, spread by the bloodstream occurs only after the lymphatic system has been overwhelmed by the burden of infectious agent. Obligate intracellular pathogens must spread from cell to cell; they do so either by direct transmission from one cell to the next or by release into the extracellular fluid and reinfection of both adjacent and distant cells. Many common food poisoning organisms cause pathology without spreading into the tissues. They establish a site of infection on the epithelial surface in the lumen of the gut and cause no direct pathology themselves, but they secrete toxins that cause damage either in situ or after crossing the epithelial barrier and entering the circulation.
Most infectious agents show a significant degree of host specificity, causing disease only in one or a few related species. What determines host specificity for every agent is not known, but the requirement for attachment to a particular cell-surface molecule is one critical factor. As other interactions with host cells are also commonly needed to support replication, most pathogens have a limited host range. The molecular mechanisms of host specificity comprise an area of research known as molecular pathogenesis, which falls outside the scope of this book.
While most microorganisms are repelled by innate host defenses, an initial infection, once established, generally leads to perceptible disease followed by an effective host adaptive immune response. This is initiated in the local lymphoid tissue, in response to antigens presented by dendritic cells activated during the course of the innate immune response (Fig. 10.2, third and fourth panels). Antigen-specific effector T cells and antibody-secreting B cells are generated by clonal expansion and differentiation over the course of several days, during which time the induced responses of innate immunity continue to function. Eventually, antigen-specific T cells and then antibodies are released into the blood and recruited to the site of infection (Fig. 10.2, last panel). A cure involves the clearance of extracellular infectious particles by antibodies and the clearance of intracellular residues of infection through the actions of effector T cells.
After many types of infection there is little or no residual pathology following an effective primary response. In some cases, however, the infection or the response to it causes significant tissue damage. In other cases, such as infection with cytomegalovirus or Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the infection is contained but not eliminated and can persist in a latent form. If the adaptive immune response is later weakened, as it is in acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), these diseases reappear as virulent systemic infections. We will focus on the strategies used by certain pathogens to evade or subvert adaptive immunity and thereby establish a persistent infection in the first part of Chapter 11.
In addition to clearing the infectious agent, an effective adaptive immune response prevents reinfection. For some infectious agents, this protection is essentially absolute, while for others infection is reduced or attenuated upon reexposure.
The agents that cause disease fall into five groups: viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and helminths (worms). Protozoa and worms are usually grouped together as parasites, and are the subject of the discipline of parasitology, whereas viruses, bacteria, and fungi are the subject of microbiology. In Fig. 10.3, the classes of microorganisms and parasites that cause disease are listed, with typical examples of each. The remarkable variety of these pathogens has caused the natural selection of two crucial features of adaptive immunity. First, the advantage of being able to recognize a wide range of different pathogens has driven the development of receptors on B and T cells of equal or greater diversity. Second, the distinct habitats and life cycles of pathogens have to be countered by a range of distinct effector mechanisms. The characteristic features of each pathogen are its mode of transmission, its mechanism of replication, its pathogenesis or the means by which it causes disease, and the response it elicits. We will focus here on the immune responses to these pathogens.
A variety of microorganisms can cause disease. Pathogenic organisms are of five main types: viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and worms. Some common pathogens in each group are listed in the column on the right.
Infectious agents can grow in various body compartments, as shown schematically in Fig. 10.4. We have already seen that two major compartments can be defined—intracellular and extracellular. Intracellular pathogens must invade host cells in order to replicate, and so must either be prevented from entering cells or be detected and eliminated once they have done so. Such pathogens can be subdivided further into those that replicate freely in the cell, such as viruses and certain bacteria (species of Chlamydia and Rickettsia as well as Listeria), and those, such as the mycobacteria, that replicate in cellular vesicles. Viruses can be prevented from entering cells by neutralizing antibodies whose production relies on TH2 cells (see Section 9-14), while once within cells they are dealt with by virus-specific cytotoxic T cells, which recognize and kill the infected cell (see Section 8-21). Intravesicular pathogens, on the other hand, mainly infect macrophages and can be eliminated with the aid of pathogen-specific TH1 cells, which activate infected macrophages to destroy the pathogen (see Section 8-26).
Pathogens can be found in various compartments of the body, where they must be combated by different host defense mechanisms. Virtually all pathogens have an extracellular phase where they are vulnerable to antibody-mediated effector mechanisms. However, intracellular (more...)
Many microorganisms replicate in extracellular spaces, either within the body or on the surface of epithelia. Extracellular bacteria are usually susceptible to killing by phagocytes and thus pathogenic species have developed means of resisting engulfment. The encapsulated gram-positive cocci, for instance, grow in extracellular spaces and resist phagocytosis by means of their polysaccharide capsule. This means they are not immediately eliminated by tissue phagocytes on infecting a previously unexposed host. However, if this mechanism of resistance is overcome by opsonization by complement and specific antibody, they are readily killed after ingestion by phagocytes. Thus, these extracellular bacteria are cleared by means of the humoral immune response (see Chapter 9).
Different infectious agents cause markedly different diseases, reflecting the diverse processes by which they damage tissues (Fig. 10.5). Many extracellular pathogens cause disease by releasing specific toxic products or protein toxins (see Fig. 9.23), which can induce the production of neutralizing antibodies (see Section 9-14). Intracellular infectious agents frequently cause disease by damaging the cells that house them. The specific killing of virus-infected cells by cytotoxic T cells thus not only prevents virus spread but removes damaged cells. The immune response to the infectious agent can itself be a major cause of pathology in several diseases (see Fig. 10.5). The pathology caused by a particular infectious agent also depends on the site in which it grows; Streptococcus pneumoniae in the lung causes pneumonia, whereas in the blood it causes a rapidly fatal systemic illness.
Pathogens can damage tissues in a variety of different ways. The mechanisms of damage, representative infectious agents, and the common names of the diseases associated with each are shown. Exotoxins are released by microorganisms and act at the surface (more...)
As we learned in Chapter 2, for a pathogen to invade the body, it must first bind to or cross the surface of an epithelium. When the infection is due to intestinal pathogens such as Salmonella typhi, the causal agent of typhoid fever, or Vibrio cholerae, which causes cholera, the adaptive immune response occurs in the specialized mucosal immune system associated with the gastrointestinal tract, as described later in this chapter. Some intestinal pathogens even target the M cells of the gut mucosal immune system, which are specialized to transport antigens across the epithelium, as a means of entry.
Many pathogens cannot be entirely eliminated by the immune response. But neither are most pathogens universally lethal. Those pathogens that have persisted for many thousands of years in the human population are highly evolved to exploit their human hosts, and cannot alter their pathogenicity without upsetting the compromise they have achieved with the human immune system. Rapidly killing every host it infects is no better for the long-term survival of a pathogen than being wiped out by the immune response before it has had time to infect another individual. In short, we have learned to live with our enemies, and they with us. However, we must be on the alert at all times for new pathogens and new threats to health. The human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS serves as a warning to mankind that we remain constantly vulnerable to the emergence of new infectious agents.
A DIFFERENT VIEWPOINT Peter Dodson, left, of the University of Pennsylvania, Michael Foote of the University of Chicago and Jon Todd of the Museum of Natural History in London watching a video at the Creation Museum.
PETERSBURG, Ky. — Tamaki Sato was confused by the dinosaur exhibit. The placards described the various dinosaurs as originating from different geological periods — the stegosaurus from the Upper Jurassic, the heterodontosaurus from the Lower Jurassic, the velociraptor from the Upper Cretaceous — yet in each case, the date of demise was the same: around 2348 B.C.
"I was just curious why," said Dr. Sato, a professor of geology from Tokyo Gakugei University in Japan.
For paleontologists like Dr. Sato, layers of bedrock represent an accumulation over hundreds of millions of years, and the Lower Jurassic is much older than the Upper Cretaceous.
But here in the Creation Museum in northern Kentucky, Earth and the universe are just over 6,000 years old, created in six days by God. The museum preaches, "Same facts, different conclusions" and is unequivocal in viewing paleontological and geological data in light of a literal reading of the Bible.
In the creationist interpretation, the layers were laid down in one event — the worldwide flood when God wiped the land clean except for the creatures on Noah's ark — and these dinosaurs died in 2348 B.C., the year of the flood.
"That's one thing I learned," Dr. Sato said.
The worlds of academic paleontology and creationism rarely collide, but the former paid a visit to the latter last Wednesday. The University of Cincinnati was hosting the North American Paleontological Convention, where scientists presented their latest research at the frontiers of the ancient past. In a break from the lectures, about 70 of the attendees boarded school buses for a field trip to the Creation Museum, on the other side of the Ohio River.
"I'm very curious and fascinated," Stefan Bengtson, a professor of paleozoology at the Swedish Museum of Natural History, said before the visit, "because we have little of that kind of thing in Sweden."
Arnold I. Miller, a professor of geology at the University of Cincinnati and head of the meeting's organizing committee, suggested the trip. "Too often, academics tend to ignore what's going on around them," Dr. Miller said. "I feel at least it would be valuable for my colleagues to become aware not only of how creationists are portraying their own message, but how they're portraying the paleontological message and the evolutionary message."
Since the museum opened two years ago, 750,000 people have passed through its doors, but this was the first large group of paleontologists to drop by. The museum welcomed the atypical guests with the typical hospitality. "Praise God, we're excited to have you here," said Bonnie Mills, a guest service employee.
The scientists received the group admission rate, which included lunch.
Terry Mortenson, a lecturer and researcher for Answers in Genesis, the ministry that built and runs the Creation Museum, said he did not expect the visit to change many minds. "I'm sure for the most part they'll be of a different view from what's presented here," Dr. Mortenson said. "We'll just give the freedom to see what they want to see."
Near the entrance to the exhibits is an animatronic display that includes a girl feeding a carrot to a squirrel as two dinosaurs stand nearby, a stark departure from natural history museums that say the first humans lived 65 million years after the last dinosaurs.
"I'm speechless," said Derek E.G. Briggs, director of the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale, who walked around with crossed arms and a grimace. "It's rather scary."
Dr. Mortenson and others at the museum say they look at the same rocks and fossils as the visiting scientists, but because of different starting assumptions they arrive at different answers. For example, they say the biblical flood set off huge turmoil inside the Earth that broke apart the continents and pushed them to their current locations, not that the continents have moved over a few billion years.
"Everyone has presuppositions what they will consider, what questions they will ask," said Dr. Mortenson, who holds a doctorate in the history of geology from Coventry University in England. "The very first two rooms of our museum talk about this issue of starting points and assumptions. We will very strongly contest an evolutionist position that they are letting facts speak for themselves."
The museum's presentation appeals to visitors like Steven Leinberger and his wife, Deborah, who came with a group from the Church of the Lutheran Confession in Eau Claire, Wis. "This is what should be taught even in science," Mr. Leinberger said.
The museum founders placed it in the Cincinnati area because it is within a day's drive of two-thirds of the United States population. The area has also long attracted paleontologists with some of the most fossil-laden rocks in North America, where it is easy along some roadsides to pick up fossils dated to be hundreds of millions of years old. The rocks are so well known that they are called the Cincinnatian Series, representing the stretch of time from 451 million to 443 million years ago.
Many of the paleontologists thought the museum misrepresented and ridiculed them and their work and unfairly blamed them for the ills of society.
"I think they should rename the museum — not the Creation Museum, but the Confusion Museum," said Lisa E. Park, a professor of paleontology at the University of Akron.
"Unfortunately, they do it knowingly," Dr. Park said. "I was dismayed. As a Christian, I was dismayed."
Dr. Bengtson noted that to explain how the few species aboard the ark could have diversified to the multitude of animals alive today in only a few thousand years, the museum said simply, "God provided organisms with special tools to change rapidly."
"Thus in one sentence they admit that evolution is real," Dr. Bengtson said, "and that they have to invoke magic to explain how it works."
But even some who disagree with the information and message concede that the museum has an obvious appeal. "I hate that it exists," said Jason D. Rosenhouse, a mathematician at James Madison University in Virginia and a blogger on evolution issues, "but given that it exists, you can have a good time here. They put on a very good show if you can handle the suspension of disbelief."
By the end of the visit, among the dinosaurs, Dr. Briggs seemed amused. "I like the fact the dinosaurs were in the ark," he said. (About 50 kinds of dinosaurs were aboard Noah's ark, the museum explains, but later went extinct for unknown reasons.)
The museum, he realized, probably changes few beliefs. "But you worry about the youngsters," he said.
Dr. Sato likened the museum to an amusement park. "I enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed Disneyland," she said.
Did she enjoy Disneyland?
"Not very much," she said.
A version of this article appeared in print on June 30, 2009, on page D4 of the New York edition.
17 Places to Donate Books and More in Singapore (2020 Update!)
Preloved novels collecting dust, self-help books you'll never read again, not to mention your kids' old textbooks that keep piling up. Wondering what to do with all these old books you no longer need but can't bear to just throw away? Why not pass them on to those who can give them a new lease of life? In doing so, you can declutter your home and save the environment, while helping to improve the lives of others. Here's a compilation of charities and organisations where you can donate books in Singapore.
An initiative by social enterprise Project Dignity, Dignity Mama stalls sell secondhand books, managed by young adults with special needs and their parents. The project equips special needs youth with the skills and confidence to run a business, and supports their caregivers too.
Donate English and Chinese books for adults and children (fiction and non-fiction), magazines like Reader's Digest, National Geographic, and Young Scientists, comics, educational toys and flashcards.
Where/How Dignity Mama kiosks are located at National University Hospital, Ng Teng Fong General Hospital, and Sengkang General Hospital. (The kiosk at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital is temporarily closed till further notice.) Fill up this form to arrange to drop off your books, and a Dignity Mama manager will be in touch.
While challenging himself to solo backpacking through Nepal in 2017, Randall discovered a world far from the comforts he knew growing up in Singapore. On his return, he was inspired to start Books Beyond Borders. The idea was to sell gently-read books to raise funds for educational projects in rural places needing a literacy boost.
Donate Old and new English books for children and adults (fiction and non-fiction) that are still in good condition.
Where/How Pack your preloved books into a recycled box and contact them to arrange a pick-up. You can also help by purchasing books!
A group of kind-hearted souls got together to bring reading and books to underprivileged children in developing Asian countries. They hope that literacy will lead to further education and job prospects. They collect books and educational materials to help schools and orphanages in places from Myanmar to Sri Lanka.
Donate Old and new English books, from preschool to primary level books teaching the alphabet, to storybooks and educational flash cards, CDs or DVDs (e.g. Barney and Friends, Sesame Street, Thomas & Friends, Bob the Builder).
Where/How Due to COVID-19, they have suspended collections for the time being, but plan to start again in 2021. Stay tuned to their website and Facebook page for updates.
Part of NTUC FairPrice's ongoing effort to help needy families provide for their children's education, it also promotes recycling and encourages thriftiness. Since 1983, the project has helped over 280,000 needy students save in textbook expenses, through the collection of about 5.5 million textbooks. This year's donation period is from 29 October to 30 November 2020.
Donate Gently-used school textbooks which are still in good condition. Do check the approved textbook list beforehand to find out if your textbooks are still part of the current syllabus. Assessment books, storybooks and encyclopaedia are also welcome.
Where/How Drop off at 77 FairPrice stores islandwide, including FairPrice Finest, FairPrice Xtra, Warehouse Club, selected FairPrice supermarkets, and FairPrice Xpress stores at Esso service stations. Visit their website for more details.
5. Marymount Youth Network Book Donation Drive 2020
Marymount Youth Network invites you to share the joy of knowledge with those who may not have the privilege of choosing the books they own. Just make sure there are no scribbles or torn pages. The donation period is from 1 November to 13 December 2020.
Donate Gently-used primary school and secondary school textbooks, as well as storybooks.
Where/How Drop off at Marymount Community Club, 191 Sin Ming Avenue, and Thomson Community Club, #01-126, 233 Bishan Street 22. Visit their Facebook page for updates.
6. Sony's South Africa Mobile Library Project (SAMLP)
For 13 consecutive years, the Sony Group of Companies in Singapore has organised the SAMLP to help make a positive impact on South African children's education and future. Donated books are sent to South Africa where they will be transported in mobile libraries that visit local schools, giving students and teachers an opportunity to borrow the books.
Donate English-language children's books.
Where/How Due to the evolving COVID-19 situation, this year's edition will be held over till 2021. Stay tuned to Sony Singapore's website and Facebook page for updates!
Created for Singapore's many migrant workers, Migrant Library Singapore aims to spread the joy of reading. It also strengthens community bonding by conducting literary activities such as poetry readings and book discussions. From time to time, it takes a Mobile Library to dormitories, and helps create Readers' Clubs in them too.
Donate Books in Bengali, Bahasa Indonesia, Malay, Tagalog, Tamil, Thai and Chinese.
Where/How The Migrant Library is located at TWC2 Dayspace on Level 2, 1C Rowell Road. Call Mr Zilani at 82241290 or email migrantlibrary.sg@gmail.com before heading down, and check their Facebook page for updates.
Award-winning poet Zakir Hossain Khokan, himself a Bangladeshi migrant worker, created a book-sharing initiative for his fellow foreign workers. As its name suggests, his aim for One Bag One Book is to put a book in every worker's bag. Through this, he hopes to offer his peers a source of comfort — and improved literacy — while far from home.
Donate Books in English, Bengali, Tamil, Bahasa Indonesia, preferably novels, poetry, history and motivational books.
Where/How To donate books, contact the founder Zakir via WhatsApp at 93574181 or email onebagonebook@gmail.com or zakir.journal@gmail.com. Alternatively, you can do so via the Facebook page.
The South Central Community Family Service Centre provides support to low-income and vulnerable families in the community. One of its initiatives is the Goodwill Store, where the public can donate food and preloved items such as books and clothes. These will be given to those in need to help them tide over tough times.
Donate Food rations, books, toys, clothes and other preloved items. See these guidelines for what not to give and visit their Facebook page for updates.
Where/How The Goodwill Store drop-off points are located at #01-09, 5 Delta Avenue, and #01-131, 50 Hoy Fatt Road. Take a photo of the items you wish to donate and email goodwill@sccfsc.org.sg before stopping by.
The Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (MINDS) runs four thrift stores named MINDS Shop. It offers their intellectually disabled clients pre-vocational training and employment in retail and customer service. Each store carries carefully selected preloved items that deserve a new lease of life.
Donate Books, baby equipment (high chair, car seats, etc), electronic gadgets, clothes, furniture, kitchenware, collectibles and tools. This comprehensive list explains what's good and what's not.
Where/How You can donate preloved goods — and shop — at MINDS Shops located at 800 Margaret Drive, 30 Woodlands Ring Road, and 29 Rosyth Road. You can also shop at MINDS Shop Plus @ NTUC Health Senior Activity Centre, #01-29, 71 Redhill Road.
The Salvation Army runs programmes and social services to help meet the needs of the underprivileged in the community. Their funds come from sales of secondhand items at their Family Thrift Stores. So if you have plenty of old books to spare and would like to contribute, consider donating them here.
Donate Hardback or paperback books. Besides books, you may also donate preloved toys, clothing, furniture, household goods and electronic devices.
Where/How Drop off your items at any of the Donation-In-Kind booths which are located all over the island. For bulkier items, you may arrange for a collection service. More details, including the locations of the booths, can be found here.
Every year, EcoBank (a joint initiative between City Developments Limited and Eco-Business) organises an islandwide collection drive for used items. These are sold at the annual EcoBank Bazaar. The event helps raise funds for various causes. Any unsold items are given to beneficiary organisations.
Donate Books, toys, clothes, electronics, household appliances, art, and accessories in good, resaleable condition.
Where/How Due to COVID-19, EcoBank has suspended all volunteer activities. Keep an eye on the event page on EcoBank's website or Facebook page for updates on the next collection drive.
Started by a group of parents, School Kaki is a Facebook group for those looking to share used school-related items. It has also spawned a Telegram channel. No exchange of money is permitted, as it is not a charity, but a platform for sharing and giving.
Donate Used textbooks, assessment books, uniforms, school bags and stationery. Anything a student needs is welcome.
Where/How Join the Facebook group and/or Telegram channel. Simply make a post about what you wish to share, and those who are interested can get in touch.
If you have no space for new books and no time to visit the library, Seekabook may be your answer. It's a subscription platform that allows you to exchange your books with others of your choice from an online catalog. It's much cheaper than buying new books, and you can keep them for life if you wish. The books are delivered to and collected from your doorstep!
Donate Any books are welcome, from kids' story books and textbooks to general fiction and non-fiction.
Where/How Simply sign up for a subscription plan that suits you. To aid underprivileged students, the exchange of academic books is free. Seekabook will pick up the books you want to give and deliver the books that you choose.
The SRRFM is a pop-up market where everything is really, really free. It aims to build community through the sharing of resources. If you have any items, services or skills that would benefit your local community — which you don't mind giving away for free — you're welcome to set up a stall.
Donate Items like books, toys or clothing. You can also offer your skills or services to others (like massages, tarot readings, yoga lessons, etc).
Where/How Different locations throughout Singapore, every two months. The next SRRFM is on 25 November. Visit their Facebook page to book your space and learn more.
Alternatively, you might consider freecycling your books. Freecycling refers to the act of giving away usable unwanted items to others who need them. The growing global movement has an active group in Singapore. Here, people with functional items they don't need are matched with those who need them.
Donate Any item, including books, in good working condition.
Where/How Visit the group's Facebook page and post a picture of the items you want to give away. Interested takers will then respond to the offer and make arrangements for collection.
17. Public Libraries
Did you know that you can even donate your preloved books at National Library Board libraries in Singapore? Many of our public libraries (except those in malls) have Book Exchange Corners. You can drop off your books at these dedicated shelves for fellow book lovers to pick up and enjoy.
Before you donate books or other preloved items to any organisation, check out their donation policies so that you'll have a better idea of the types of books (and other items) that they need. Their requirements may change now and again, especially due to the constantly evolving COVID-19 situation. Also, check your items for wear and tear, and do your part to make volunteers' jobs easier by organising and packing them in groups that go together. Happy giving!
