Gives gift of essential food items to over 360 disadvantaged families
Commits $200,000 to ‘StarHub Food First For Families’ programme in aid of needy students and their families
Singapore, 2 December 2009 – Over 360 needy elderly, students and their families received an early Christmas gift from StarHub this evening as the company partnered Rotary Club of Marina City (RCMC) to organise a Christmas celebration for them at Chua Chu Kang Community Club and distributed food packs comprising a month’s supply of essential food items to all families. Mr Gan Kim Yong, Minister for Manpower and Member of Parliament for Chua Chu Kang Constituency was Guest-Of-Honour at the event.
Over 50 volunteers from StarHub and RCMC manned the game stalls at the party and shared a fun and meaningful evening with the invited guests who included over 300 elderly residents of one-room rental apartments at Block 9 Teck Whye Lane, under Chua Chu Kang Constituency, and over 60 ComCare financial assistance recipients and their families.
Working with the charity Food From The Heart (FFTH), StarHub also launched the ‘StarHub Food First For Families’ programme, committing $200,000 towards the monthly purchase of essential food items for over 300 needy students from six schools and their families in the coming year. Riding on FFTH’s existing food distribution programme that is run through the school network, StarHub’s initiative aims to meet the basic needs of students from vulnerable families and serves as an incentive for them to attend school regularly and enable them to stay focused on their studies.
On StarHub’s rationale in sponsoring food items as gifts for attendees of the Christmas celebrations and in launching ‘StarHub Food First For Families’, Mr Tan Tong Hai, Chief Operating Officer of StarHub, explained, ”The unfortunate reality is that not everyone enjoys a life of self sufficiency. Given the financial difficulties that some families face, children from these families are at risk of being distracted from their studies and falling behind at school. As a socially responsible company committed to giving back to our community, we want to play a part in helping disadvantaged families meet their basic needs so that they can rise above their challenges.”
Mr Bruce Bird, President of RCMC, was enthusiastic about RCMC’s involvement in the celebrations. He said, “This is our Silver Jubilee year, and we wanted to do something special, hands-on and useful. We wanted to demonstrate that Rotary has always been about helping those less fortunate than ourselves, and with the help of many people, we are able to reach out to the community which we serve and invite them to join in our celebrations.”
On FFTH’s partnership with StarHub in launching the ‘StarHub Food First For Families’ programme, Ms Christine Laimer, Founder of FFTH, said, “When we witness the plight of the disadvantaged in our community, it strengthens our resolve to find new avenues of support that will allow us to increase the outreach of our food distribution programmes. We are grateful for the gracious contribution from StarHub, which will provide a beacon of hope to needy students, and give them the encouragement they need to concentrate on their studies.”
The schools that will benefit from the ‘StarHub Food First For Families’ programme include Bendemeer Primary School, Chua Chu Kang Secondary School, New Town Primary School, Seng Kang Primary School, Teck Whye Primary School and Yu Neng Primary School.
Since StarHub was established in 2000, the company has donated some $6 million to help the less fortunate in Singapore.
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