Welcome
A very good afternoon to you and welcome to the U Care Back to School Fair 2011!
I have two words to describe the U Care Back to School Fair 2011, and that is ‘bigger’ and ‘better’. This year, the Fair will not only offer exclusive and special discounts on school-related merchandise for all our union members; we will also have a new feature which we called the U Care Learning Zone. There will be enriching and exciting workshops and free talks for you and your children. We hope you will participate at these activities to pick up useful tips on nutrition, technology, cyber wellness and many more. You may ask; why do we organise the Back to School Fair year after year?
About Labour Movement’s U Care Initiative
For the last 50 years, the Labour Movement and NTUC have been championing the interests of our workers, to help them at Work, Live and Play.
And to our low-income members who may need a little more help from us, the Labour Movement rolls out a number of assistance programmes each year to help these members cope with their cost of living and their children’s school-related expenses.
In 2011, with the strong support of our donors, through the NTUC-U Care Fund, we are able to reach out to over 90,000 members and their families through programmes like U Stretch Vouchers, U Care Back to School Vouchers, and U Care Education Co-Funding Scheme, among others.
I am happy to announce that a total of $9 million dollars will be disbursed in 2011. This is no small amount by any measure, and it goes to show that the Labour Movement cares a lot about our low-income members and their families. In fact, we had raised the income ceiling since this August so that we could help as many low-income families as possible. In total, we have given out some 53,000 voucher booklets; over 8,000 family recreation packages and supported over 6,000 students through co-funding of our unions’ bursary and scholarship programmes.
To be able to give out this much assistance, this is not something we take for granted. We are always mindful that help could only come through if there are sufficient resources.
We are thus 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 the Singapore Labour Foundation, our NTUC social enterprises such as NTUC FairPrice Foundation; NTUC Club; NTUC Income; NTUC Choice Homes; our affiliated unions and association; our management partners and corporate donors.
The more we receive from our donors every year, the more we can give. We hope that they will continue to share our vision to be the most Caring Labour Movement in the world!
U Care Programmes
To utilise the funds raised each year, our U Care assistance programmes focus on three main areas – (1) helping low-income union members and their families in times of need, (2) champion for children and youth particularly those from low-income households, and (3) helping the elderly in a meaningful way.
One of our core programmes, the U Stretch Vouchers aim to help our low-income members cope with the increasing cost of living. The vouchers allow them to buy basic necessities such as groceries, cooked food, medication, or pay for eldercare services at a discount. This helps to stretch their dollar and lessen their daily expenses. A total of $2.3 million worth of U Stretch vouchers were disbursed this year.
As a Labour Movement that recognises that work, live and play are important elements of a better and more meaningful life, NTUC Club has been our staunch supporter and has been sponsoring the Family Recreation & Fun Carnivals for the last few years. In 2011, some 32,000 members and their families get to enjoy a day of fun at Downtown East at no cost. These carnivals are held several times a year.
A very important group of people whom we help are the workers of yesterday who have contributed to our nation-building. Just last month, the U Care Fund made a $1 million donation to the NTUC Eldercare Trust in support of its objective to promote both the emotional and physical well-being of the elderly, so as to help them stay active and healthy in their golden years.
How do we champion for children and youth? We believe one way is through Education. This would be the investment we make for our future generation. The importance of a good education cannot be over emphasised. And to help ensure no child is deprived of an early childhood education due to financial circumstances, the U Care Fund is committed to support the NTUC First Campus Bright Horizons Fund through our donation every year. This will help young children from low-income families have an equal start in life through quality pre-school education and literacy programmes. We will be presenting our donation cheque to Bright Horizons Fund in a short while.
We also want to encourage our children and youths to study hard and pursue their dreams. We are heartened that many of our affiliated unions have bursaries and scholarships for their members’ children. And to support them in this regard, the U Care Fund provides co-funding support to the unions so as to motivate our members’ children to excel in their studies and in so doing, levels up their playing field. We expect to disburse over $800,000 through the U Care Education Co-Funding Scheme this year.
Another of our core programmes is the U Care Back to School Vouchers. Parents with school-going children would know that the yearly ritual of getting new school supplies is quite a project in itself. There are school textbooks; school uniforms; school shoes and socks; stationery; spectacles; and other necessities. All these can cost quite a substantial sum, especially so if one has more than one child.
The purpose of the U Care Back to School vouchers is thus to help our low-income members defray the cost of their children’s school expenses for the new school year. This year, more than $3.6 million worth of vouchers was disbursed to over 29,000 school-going children. That is a lot of our members’ children being helped. I hope many of them will drop by our Back to School Fair to use their vouchers and enjoy all the exclusive discounts and promotions.
This is the reason why NTUC organises the U Care Back to School Fair every year, to complement the Back to School vouchers so as to help our members stretch their dollar further and bring greater value to them. Started from yesterday, the Fair will last till tomorrow, and this 3-day fair will allow not just the voucher holders, but all our union members to enjoy exclusive discounts and special deals on school-related merchandise.
U Care Back to School Fair
We want to thank all our participating partners, BATA; Evergreen Stationery; NTUC Unity; POPULAR; PC Connect; SingTel and The Point Optical, for their show of support at our Fair by offering the special promotions, some as high as 35% discount, to our union members. We are also grateful to those who are providing special deals for the Back to School voucher holders, which is over and above the discounts they are already offering.
Besides the great shopping, we are excited to have many supporting partners this year who will introduce their services and programmes to our participants.
Something new this year, we have created a U Care Learning Zone at the fair where there will be free talks on nutrition and healthy-eating, as well as topics on technology and cyber wellness. I would like to encourage all parents to attend these free educational talks to learn how to help your children eat well, and how to protect them when they go onto cyberspace.
Besides these talks, there are exciting workshops to help stimulate your children’s creativity and imagination, such as balloon sculpting and caricature drawing. Do check out the U Care Learning Zone to register for the workshops or find out more about what’s in store.
There is so much to do at this year’s Fair and I hope you will make full use of your time here to Shop, Learn and Play.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I would like to thank Brother Ong Ye Kung, NTUC Deputy Secretary-General, for gracing this occasion as our Special Guest today. Also 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 performers from Young NTUC, as well as nEbO and My First Skool who will be performing for us in a while.
Lastly, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all in advance, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Thank you.
