Welcome
Making a Difference ~ Touching Lives
We at the NTUC-U Care Fund also has many stories to share, stories that started since 2009 when we were officially set up as a charity fund. The Labour Movement has been championing for the interests of our workers and members for more than 50 years. And for our low-income members, we wanted to do even more to help them. Therefore, under the NTUC-U Care Fund, we have a number of assistance programmes to help them defray the cost of daily necessities and their children’s school expenses.
We are heartened that many of our beneficiaries had shared with us how grateful they are to have received the help from the Labour Movement. Let us hear from some of them now.
U Care Fund Report Card
F From the video that you just watched, the U Care Fund’s mission is to support our low-income members and their families; champion for children and youth; care for the elderly; as well as reach out to the underprivileged community. In 2013 alone, we have disbursed close to $9 million dollars through the various assistance programmes.
Some 30,900 low-income members received $2.5 million worth of U Stretch Vouchers and 9,300 families attended one of the six runs of Family Recreation and Fun Carnivals. To support our members’ children, we gave out over 29,000 U Care Back to School Vouchers booklets amounting to $3.66 million dollars. Also, about 8,600 members’ children received bursaries and scholarships from their unions which were co-funded by the U Care Education Co-Funding Scheme.
And to help young children from low-income families to have an equal start in life through quality pre-school education, the U Care Fund will be making a $500,000 donation to the Bright Horizons Fund today. We will be presenting our cheque to them in a short while.
Besides helping our members who are the workers of today; and our members’ children who are the workers of tomorrow, we must also not forget the workers of yesterday as well.This is why the U Care Fund also contributes to the NTUC Eldercare Trust every year to support over 5,000 needy seniors in our community.
Thank U Donors
We won’t be able to provide all these help without the strong support from our donors and supporters. We are indeed very grateful to them for believing in our cause. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our generous donors, especially all our affiliated unions and association; Singapore Labour Foundation; NTUC social enterprises such as NTUC FairPrice Foundation; NTUC Club; NTUC Income; NTUC Choice Homes; our management and tripartite partners as well as corporate and individual donors. Thank you very much!
You know, fundraising is a never ending task.We are mindful that there are many other worthy causes that deserve support too.So, I am very happy to share a piece of good news with you, and that is, we have an organization that will be making a big donation to us today. I will tell you who they are in a while.
The NTUC organizes the U Care Back to School Fair in conjunction with the U Care Back to School Vouchers Programme where we help our union members defray the cost of their children’s school expenses as they prepare their children for the new school year.The cost of buying new school supplies can pose quite a heavy burden for them, especially if they have more than one child.
And to support us in this endeavour, I am excited to announce that the Tote Board and Singapore Pools will be co-funding the U Care Back To School Vouchers Programme to the tune of one million dollars!Thank you Tote Board and Singapore Pools for believing in us and for making a big difference!
On behalf of all our beneficiaries, I would like to thank all our donors and sponsors for their generosity and for supporting us year after year.I am sure they will welcome us when we knock on their doors again next year
U Care Back to School Fair
Before I end, let me say something on this year’s Back to School Fair otherwise my staff won’t let me off.But seriously, this year’s Fair is probably the best yet.We have put together a host of exciting programmes and activities that you wouldn’t want to miss.
Besides members’ exclusive deals and discounts of up to 65% on school-related merchandise offered by household brands like NTUC FairPrice, Unity, BATA, POPULAR, and many others, there are also a wide range of educational talks and workshops to engage parents and children alike.
We have introduced Parenting Tips so that parents could learn from the experts on budgeting and how to stretch their dollar even further; or learn how to help their children ace their Math and Science, or find out ways to care for their children’s eyes. There will also be a talk in Mandarin by two very experienced family counsellors and they will share about the important principles of bringing up children.
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There are also lots of interesting and fun workshops for the children under <
All these were made possible by our programme partners, National Book Development Council of Singapore, National Library Board, MoneySENSE, Singapore Polytechnic Institute for Financial Literacy, Singapore National Eye Centre, Singapore Sports School and TOUCH Community.
I would also like to thank all our participating merchant partners for offering the special promotions and exclusive deals for our union members.Special thanks to our NTUC Social Enterprises and communities, like nEbO, Young NTUC and U Family for their support.And not forgetting our media partners, Lifestyle magazine, UFM100.3 and Kiss92.
Our appreciation also goes to the National Library Board for sponsoring the venue for the second year running. We certainly look forward to partner them for many more years to come.
Conclusion
Last but not least, let me also say a big thank you to Sister Diana, NTUC President, for gracing today’s event. Thank you also to all our donor representatives, our Board of Trustees, our sisters and brothers and every one of you for joining us today.
Here’s wishing you happy holidays and have a fun time shopping and learning!
~ End ~
