Following the announcement on June 30 that he was appointed as Chairman of the National Council of Social Service (NCSS), Mr Gregory Vijayendran, 58, received a congratulatory text from a friend.
“You are the best person for the job. With your compassion and dedication, you will scale the dizzying heights,” the message read.
In response, he astutely replied that he views compassion rather differently.
“It is not about ascending, but about descending, to connect and have compassion,” Mr Gregory explained.
He then cited a quote by British professor and clinical psychologist Paul Gilbert, which redefines compassion as the “courage to descend into the reality of human experience.”
This grounded perspective anchors Mr Gregory’s approach to the social service sector.
His work with vulnerable and disadvantaged communities began in his school days. As a pre-university student, he volunteered to teach tuition at a children’s home. Learning what some of the children had been through took him by surprise.
“Two boys hid under the bed and witnessed their uncle kill their father. And these boys were part of my students. It was an eye-opener,” Mr Gregory recalled.
“That was my first involvement in social service,” he added.
He then went on to study law at the National University of Singapore, where he struck up a close friendship with a group of fellow student leaders. Following their graduation, the group spearheaded efforts to establish a support organisation for children with leukaemia, which was how the Children’s Cancer Foundation (CCF) started in 1992.
“We enjoyed working with each other. That’s the power of friendship. You get things done,” Mr Gregory said.
He served as the CCF Vice-President from 1992 to 1995. Mr Gregory also chaired Camp Rainbow from 1994 to 1995, solidifying his community service trajectory.
The history of Camp Rainbow dates back to 1991 when the Rotaract Clubs of Singapore came together to organise a special camp for children with various chronic and life-threatening illnesses.
This tradition continues to this day through Club Rainbow (Singapore), which organises the volunteer-driven and medically supervised annual retreats under the same name.
The turning point came in 1995, when Mr Gregory tragically lost his mother due to a massive stroke. He described it as a “devastating experience”, and grappled with the guilt over being based in Singapore while his mother remained in Malaysia.
When Club Rainbow (Singapore) asked him to assume a leadership role the next year, he felt a higher calling to take on the responsibility, wanting to make a meaningful difference. He served as the organisation’s president from 1996 to 2015.
His mother’s death had, by then, also equipped him with a greater sense of empathy and compassion.
“When I walk into homes where families had lost a child or a loved one, I could understand a little bit of their pain,” Mr Gregory said, acknowledging that often, the greatest support for many bereaved families is a listening ear.
A practising lawyer by trade, Mr Gregory was invited by leaders in the social service sector to conduct seminars on charity governance and is a member of the Charity Council. Eventually, he lent more of his legal expertise to a variety of causes.
Most notably, he served on the Tribunal for the Maintenance of Parents for the past 10 years, and was president of the Tribunal for three years from June 2022 to June 2025.
For his contributions, he received the Outstanding Volunteer Award at the Ministry for Social and Family Development’s (MSF) Volunteer and Partner Awards in 2025.
“The paradox about social service is that the more you give, the more you receive in intangible ways because we learn so much about life,” Mr Gregory noted.
He will serve a three-year term as NCSS Chairperson from Aug 1, 2026 to July 31, 2029. Previously, he held the position of Honorary General Secretary from 2022 to 2026.
One of his key priorities will focus on “looking deeper into the new, complex needs of our service users who come from families where there are interconnected problems”.
These issues can be broadly categorised into caregiver fatigue, mental health and wellness, social isolation, employment issues, and financial difficulties.
Another aim is to strengthen partnerships between NCSS, social service agencies (SSAs), service users, and the government.
“I look forward to working closely with him (Mr Gregory) to build on the strong foundations established and foster innovation for the sector’s long-term success,” said Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli in an MSF press statement.
