1 Welcome
Welcome to the NTUC U Care Back to School Fair 2014!
Making a Difference ~ Touching Lives
From the video which you have just seen, the stories of our three beneficiaries are but just a few of the many, many lives
whom the NTUC-U Care Fund has touched.
When the NTUC-U Care Fund was started in 2009, we have set ourselves one clear mission. And that is to be a Caring
Labour Movement that helps improve the lives of our low-income union members and their families; supports needy
children and youths in their pursuit of excellence; and provides assistance to the elderly in a meaningful way.
The year 2014 marks a special milestone for the NTUC-U Care Fund as it is the year that we celebrated our 5th
anniversary. We are indeed very grateful that we have many supporters who believed in our cause and have been on
this journey with us for the past few years. And it is only with their support and generous contributions are we able to Do
Good and Do More for the low-income families and the underprivileged in our community. To share more about how the
various U Care assistance programmes have helped our beneficiaries, let’s watch this short video clip.
U Care Fund Report Card 2014
As you have just watched, the NTUC-U Care Fund has 4 Key Focus Areas – namely, Supporting Low-Income Families;
Championing Children and Youth; Caring for the Elderly; and Cultivating Spirit of Giving and Volunteerism.
In 2014 alone, a total of $3.08 million dollars was disbursed to help some 34,000 families through our U Stretch Vouchers
and Family Recreation & Fun Carnivals.Another $4.76 million dollars went to support over 35,000 needy children through
our U Care Back To School Vouchers, our education co-funding scheme, as well as our donation to the Bright Horizons
Fund. Seniors from 10 NTUC Health’s day care and senior care centres have also benefitted from our $1 million donation
to the Eldercare Trust this year.
Although the U Care Fund has a relatively short history, I am happy to report that since 2009, we have disbursed a grand
total of $67 million dollars to date.
Thank U Donors
I would like to take this opportunity to say a Big Thank You to our donors and sponsors, especially to 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!
I am sure we can count on you to support us for many more years to come.
U Care Back to School Fair 2014
This afternoon, I am very excited to see so many of you here for our annual signature event, the NTUC U Care Back to
School Fair.We organised the U Care Back To School Fair to provide a one-stop shop for parents to get their children’s
school supplies in order to get them ready for school next year.But beyond the exclusive discounts and promotions, we
want to bring parents and children together to learn and have a fun time at the Back To School Fair as there are a host
of exciting programmes and educational talks lined up just for them.
With the theme of “Where Stories Come Alive”, you will not only get to enjoy the wonderful storytelling sessions, but also
get to meet our local children’s authors in person and even get your books autographed by them.
We have put together more than 25 talks and workshops from how to write a good story, creative drawing, art & craft
activities for the children to parenting tips such as how to stretch your dollar and how to help your child search for
credible information on the internet.
And this year, we have introduced a new initiative which we called “Project 1319”.This is a one-day youth symposium
that aims to help youths aged 13 to 19 years old understand the importance of setting their life aspirations early and to
draw inspiration from the various speakers who would share their personal stories.And not only that, we have also
speakers who shared with the youth on how to dress well to build their personal branding as well as how to communicate
effectively.The Project 1319 symposium was held yesterday and from the youths I spoke to as you can see on the
screen, they told me that they had a great time and found Project 1319 to be very beneficial.For that, I would like to thank
our workshop facilitator Mr Johnny Lau, and the six speakers: Dayat, Aisah, David, Ter Cheah, Li Kin and Benjamin.
Thank you for inspiring the youths.More photos of the Project 1319 will be uploaded onto our U Care facebook page so
you could check them out later.If you are still not our facebook fan yet, please go to our Facebook station over there and
“like” us.
There are many exciting programmes happening at this year’s U Care Back To School Fair.So parents and children, I
encourage you to enjoy not only the shopping, but also participate in all these educational and fun programmes.
I would also like to say a special thanks to our venue sponsor, National Library Board for making available this great
venue for our U Care Back to School Fair for the 3rd year running. Thank you for your kind support, NLB. Also, thank
you to Majority Media for having M Lifestyle as our Official Magazine.
Conclusion
In closing, I would like to thank our special guest, NTUC Secretary-General Brother Lim Swee Say, for taking time to
grace this occasion this afternoon. And thank you also to every one of you for joining us today.
Happy shopping and have a pleasant weekend ahead!
~ End ~
