Welcome
A very good afternoon to you and welcome to the U Care Back to School Fair 2012! I am very happy to see so many of you here on this special Saturday afternoon where we have lots of exciting programmes and activities planned just for you.
Introduction
Today’s event marks the conclusion of our Labour Movement’s U Care efforts for 2012. As the year draws to an end, we are grateful that in the last 12 months, we have many supporters who believe in our cause. Through their generous donations and sponsorship, we are then able to provide the various assistance programmes to help our low income members and their families. In turn, we are then able to touch many lives and reach out to the less privileged in our society.
We have just heard the stories of three of our beneficiaries, Mr Segar, Mdm See and Mdm Noryati. We thank them for agreeing to be interviewed and sharing their stories with us. They are not alone as there may be many others like them, who work hard to support their families. And there is something common in all three of them. They and their families all faced some challenges in life, and the U Care Fund was there for them in times of need, standing by them and yes, bringing back the smiles on their faces.
As we look forward to a brand new year, we are mindful that there may be challenges ahead of us. As a caring Labour Movement, we will strive to do our best to help our members, especially in times of need.
Supporting Low-Income Families, Championing for Children and Youth, Helping Needy Seniors
The NTUC-U Care Fund was set up in 2009 to better the welfare of our low-income members and their families. We take comfort that we are able to help these members cope with their cost of living and their children’s school expenses through our assistance programmes.
For 2012, we have disbursed over $9.7 million to help three main groups of beneficiaries. Over 39,000 low-income families received U Stretch Vouchers and the Family Recreation and Fun Carnivals packages, over 36,000 children received Back to School Vouchers, bursaries and scholarships. And to help young children from low-income families to have an equal start in life through quality pre-school education, we also support the Bright Horizons Fund. In fact, we will be presenting our donation cheque to Bright Horizons Fund in a short while. Besides these, we also support the NTUC Eldercare Trust, which goes to help needy seniors in our community.
Caring for all union members
While majority of our assistance programmes go to help low-income members, we also care for all our members by protecting them through a group insurance scheme. The NTUC Gift provides round-the-clock insurance coverage for all our members up to the age of 65, and for those with more than 10 years membership, they get to enjoy extended coverage beyond this age. In 2012 alone, some $3 million in claims was paid out to our members or their next-of-kin. So should something unforeseen happen, our members can rest assured that NTUC Gift will be here for them.
Caring for the Community
Besides caring for our members, the Labour Movement also does its part to reach out to the less privileged in the community. The U Care Caring, Sharing and Reaching-Out or CSR Co-Funding Scheme was mooted in 2011 to encourage our affiliated unions and communities to reach out to the less privileged in our society. This year, 24 community service projects were undertaken and over 600 beneficiaries were helped.
Appreciation to Donors and Supporters
We won’t be able to do all these without the strong support of our donors and supporters. We are indeed very grateful for the support of like-minded organisations and individuals who share our belief. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our generous donors, especially our affiliated unions and association; Singapore Labour Foundation, our NTUC social enterprises such as NTUC FairPrice Foundation; NTUC Club; NTUC Income; NTUC Choice Homes; our management and tripartite partners as well as corporate donors.
Although we had wrapped up our fundraising efforts in September, we are happy and thankful that donations are still coming in. On behalf of all our beneficiaries, I would like to thank all our donors for their generosity and belief in us. We want to assure them that 100% of their donations will go towards the assistance programmes as all operational and marketing costs are borne by NTUC, including today’s Fair. We hope that they will continue to support us in the coming year, as the more they give, the more help we could provide to our low-income families.
U Care Back to School Fair
Indeed every year, my team also tries to outdo themselves to bring more value to our members at the U Care Back to School Fair. Today’s event is specially put together for all union members, with exclusive deals on school-related merchandise so as to help our members stretch their dollar even further. Some items are going for as low as $1, so I encourage you to check them out later.
And for helping us to make all this happen, I would like to thank all our participating merchants, namely BATA, Bookaburra, Evergreen Stationery, National Geographic, NTUC FairPrice, NTUC Unity and POPULAR, for offering great discounts and promotions at the Fair.
Besides the great shopping, I am also excited to share with you that this year’s Fair has much more to offer. From book readings by our local children’s authors, book clinics, educational talks, storytelling sessions to appearance by Team Singapore athletes, we even have a special 3D car racing game! I would like to thank our venue sponsor National Library Board, and all supporting partners namely The National Book Development Council of Singapore, Singapore Sports Council, HISTORY Channel, Starhub and TQ Global, Touch Cyber Wellness and the self-help groups for their strong support. I would also like to thank our media partner, NTUC Media, our Social Enterprise NTUC Link, our communities nEbO and U Family for supporting us.
With so much to do and learn, I strongly encourage all parents and children to attend the talks and workshops, as I am sure you will have much to gain from these programmes. And the best part is they are all free!
Conclusion
Before I end, I would like to thank Sis Diana Chia, NTUC President, for gracing this occasion as our Special Guest today. Also special thanks to all our donors representatives, as well as our union leaders and Care & Share Committee members for taking time to join us here today. Not forgetting too are the little performers from My First Skool who will be performing for us in a while.
I wish you all Happy shopping and learning. Thank you.
