• About 25,000 beneficiaries under the priority scheme were invited to collect textbooks from 12 December 2020 before access is given to the public from 13 to 16 December 2020; over 500,000 textbooks were collected from the community
• Strict safety measures, which include allocated time slots for the collection of textbooks and frequent cleaning of high-touch surfaces, were implemented during the distribution drive to ensure the safety of beneficiaries, public and volunteers
• More than 1,800 volunteers – the most volunteers the initiative has seen – involved in collecting, sorting and distributing textbooks over the past six weeks.

SINGAPORE, 12 December 2020 – NTUC FairPrice (FairPrice) today launched the distribution drive for its signature community sharing initiative, FairPrice Share-A-Textbook Project. The distribution window was extended from two days in previous years to five days this year to facilitate the collection of books in adherence to Covid-19 safe management measures.

About 25,000 beneficiaries from the FairPrice Share-A-Textbook priority scheme, shortlisted by social service organisations and Community Development Councils, were given priority today to collect textbooks before access is given to the general public from 13 to 16 December 2020.

Mr Seah Kian Peng, Group CEO, FairPrice Group, said, “Despite the Covid-19 situation which has made community outreach programmes more challenging, we are encouraged that support to the Share-A-Textbook project remains strong. We continue to collect over 500,000 textbooks this year and they will go towards benefitting the less fortunate and the community while at the same time, encouraging sustainability and recycling efforts. This would not have been possible without the generous contribution of the community, partners and volunteers who have devoted much of their time and dedication to this project.”

Ensuring safety for volunteers and public

Today, beneficiaries aged seven to 16 years old from the FairPrice Share-A-Textbook priority scheme have been invited to select from the textbooks donated by the public via donation points at more than 77 FairPrice stores islandwide.

More than 1,800 volunteers, from community partners and schools, along with FairPrice staff and members of the general public, participated in the collecting, sorting and organising of textbooks for the FairPrice Share-A-Textbook Project over the past six weeks. This is the most volunteers the project has attracted since it was introduced 38 years ago.

Strict safety measures were implemented to ensure the safety of the public and volunteers amid Covid-19. In addition to the smaller teams to facilitate the sorting of textbooks, all volunteers were also provided with care packs consisting of face masks, wet wipes, disposable gloves and hand sanitiser.

The textbooks collection area is divided into two zones with a limitation on the total number of people allowed into each zone at any given time. Beneficiaries and members of the public who are intending to head down for collection are required to pre-book their preferred collection time slots using forms that were previously released. A total of 10 collection time slots are available each day, and no more than 20 bookings of two persons each will be allowed for each time slot per zone. High-touch surfaces within the collection zones will be sanitised after the end of each session.

The textbook distribution exercise will be open only to the public who have pre-booked their time slots, between 9.00am to 7.00pm from 13 to 16 December 2020 at the Arena @ Our Tampines Hub. More information on the project can be found at: https://www.fairprice.com.sg/wps/portal/fp/share-a-textbook/faq.

Note: Public collection time slots have since been fully subscribed due to overwhelming response. Subsequent requests will be reviewed on a case by case basis to better assist the needs of the community. The public may email fptextbook@fairprice.com.sg to submit their requests for available slots.

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