of Elizabeth Foo’s Calendar

Elizabeth moved over from direct work with students to administration support in July 2021 to do work under our ‘Go Digital’ initiative. She is definitely an asset and timely addition to the team.

What is your role in SYFC?

I look into digitalising and streamlining internal processes, managing and developing web systems to improve staff welfare and donor engagement through technology.

How is your typical work week like?

I have my daily and monthly routine work, as well as projects-at-hand. Daily, I ensure our automated processes and digitalised forms are working effectively. Then I troubleshoot where necessary. Monthly, I liaise with a team to send out broadcasts to our supporters and church partners. A major responsibility of mine involves managing, updating and developing web systems. Hence, much time is spent troubleshooting systems software and building the staff resource site, which is an ongoing project.

There are seasons where I get the chance to mingle with students by assisting in life skill sessions for preteens and in school enrichment series. For a period of nine months, I had the opportunity to prepare a group of primary school girls for their uniformed group’s drill competition. As part of our effort to connect with more young people, I also provide technical guidance for students at innovation challenges. For example, at a particular programme organised by an external agency, I facilitated as a group mentor by offering students help in 3D modelling for a product prototype.

What is exciting about supporting the SYFC family behind the scenes?

Besides finding joy in helping staff and volunteers when they encounter difficulties in digital form filling, I enjoy innovating ways to meet people’s needs. For example, when a staff experienced difficulty filling in a COVID declaration form during the outbreak, I had the opportunity to pray with her. On another occasion, a member of the public used the SYFC website’s chat widget to request to get in touch with a volunteer whom he had lost touch with. Yet another way is creating health declaration forms and filling-in processes for our grassroots ministries’ events that require physical activities.

Technology allows me to meet people’s needs better! There are moments I leverage on ChatGPT to jumpstart my troubleshooting needs. Yet what I find most satisfying is to observe how users benefit from the tool created after rounds of feedback.

Share a challenging episode the Lord bring you through.

My role entails a steep learning curve. I need to keep on learning so that I can do my job well. I recall feeling inadequate when tasked to work together with a volunteer, Crescens, to revamp the SYFC website. It was my first major project and being new to WordPress (a content management system to create websites), I felt the pressure to have the necessary skills and knowledge. However, the group work reminded me that God has gifted each of us differently to serve Him and the community, and I could depend on others to accomplish the work. Crescens even initiated a ‘For Students and Volunteers’ page set to a different theme, which I initially thought was impossible to accomplish. We thank God for giving us the skills needed to see the project through.

What are you thankful to God for in your present contribution to the work?

For the opportunity to explore using my technical skills, hobbies and experiences as a means to befriend students and intentionally surface pointers that could facilitate gospel sharing opportunities.

What would you like REACH readers to pray for you in the coming months?

I will be attending a web development course from mid-May to September, and a coding bootcamp in mid-June. I hope these courses will enable me to effectively manage the backend systems for our staff resource site, which at present remains a static page. May God grant me wisdom and strength to learn well and use what I will learn.

Pray with us for a person who has a budding interest in coding and development to join us.

If you know of someone who is keen to explore serving with us as a PHP coder or web developer, help us encourage him/her to indicate interest in https://www.syfc.org.sg/job-openings/#php-coder.