The Boys’ Brigade Share-a-Gift 2019 project started off on Saturday, 7 December, with 350 volunteers heading out to deliver food hampers to beneficiaries around Singapore. First started in 1988, the annual national community service project is organised with support from the National Council of Social Service (NCSS) and Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF).
Together with the NCSS and MSF, The Boys’ Brigade identifies beneficiaries from government-funded Community Care (ComCare) programmes and Social Service Agencies. For the first time, the Boys’ Brigade is also reaching out to beneficiaries from KidSTART, a programme by Early Childhood Development Agency for low-income and vulnerable young children this year.
There are two types of wishes which the Boys’ Brigade Share-a-Gift 2019 project grants – General Wishes and Specific Wishes.
General Wishes are provided to beneficiaries in the form of essential food hampers. Inside the hampers are 23 items including rice, biscuits, instant noodles, beverages and Halal-certified canned food. These items have been identified with the aid of more than 120 social workers and are estimated to last for approximately four months. The food hampers are delivered personally to the beneficiaries’ homes.
Specific Wishes are identified with the help of Social Service Agencies. These can come from children, elderly, persons with special needs or families. In all cases, the gross household income of beneficiaries does not exceed $1,700 per month.
This year, 33,931 General Wishes beneficiaries and 9,345 Specific Wishes beneficiaries have been identified.
Call for More Donations
Mr Henry Tan, Chairman of Boys’ Brigade Share-a-Gift 2019 said, “We would like to express our gratitude to all the members of the public who have come forward to donate food items and signed up to deliver food hampers personally to our beneficiaries. We have currently reached 38% of our General Wishes target, and we would like to urge the community to actively participate in our charity drive by contributing more Halal-certified canned food such as mushrooms, tuna and curry, instant noodles and biscuits, and to join us in delivering these food hampers to the less-privileged.”
As of 7 December 2019, there were still 36% of Specific Wishes that had not yet been adopted.
Those who wish to contribute towards the Boys’ Brigade Share-a-Gift project can do so donating food items at collection points at 12 NTUC FairPrice outlets island wide, making cash donations online or helping to deliver the food hampers.
For more information, call the Boys’ Brigade Share-a-Gift hotline at 1800-227-4273 (1800-BB-SHARE) or visit its official website at www.bbshare.sg.
