The Red Cross, for example, has appealed for funds to cover relief costs, and other international organisations have stepped forward to offer assistance.

Singapore, too, has extended much needed help to these areas, and not even secondary schools and students are exempt. As a student of Raffles Girls School, I have seen many friends and schoolmates step forward to help.

Classmates in the Red Cross Society, for example, recently requested donations to help earthquake victims, and we all donated generously (as much as we were able to). On the second morning, however, there was another announcement which called for donations of old but still wearable clothes, and this set me thinking.

After all, no matter how generous our parents are with allowances, it should be acknowledged that donating money to these causes is beyond our means. So what can we do? After all, to do nothing seems too dispassionate, and we are at an age where we are constantly encouraged to play our part in society.

Here is where the second announcement got my attention. In this day and age when industries are constantly rolling out new products and consumers are always buying, many of us have a lot of designer goods, many of which are used for a few months before they are replaced. I am sure many families have clothes they no longer wear, especially if they have outgrown them.

We can now exercise our generous spirit by donating these old clothes. They will definitely be put to better use by the earthquake victims. And why stop at that? I am sure our mothers have a lot of old clothes (they are women, after all), and our siblings have clothes they used to wear three years ago but have long since grown too old.

Apart from donating second-hand clothes, what else can we do that is within the means of teenagers?

One suggestion is that, in this day and age when students are talented in the arts and sports, schools can hold concerts by their school bands, inviting families of the students to take part. Ticket sales from these performances can be donated to charity.

My school will hold a choir performance soon. Tickets are only $5 each, but all proceeds will be donated to help the earthquake victims.

Grace Guo (Miss)