• FairPrice targets to collect 550,000 textbooks this year – the highest ever target in the project’s 37-year history – as part of efforts to care for the environment and community
• Members of public are encouraged to donate textbooks at over 170 donation points across all FairPrice stores, including FairPrice Finest supermarkets, FairPrice Xtra hypermarkets, Warehouse Club and FairPrice Xpress outlets at Esso service stations
• More than 1,200 volunteers are required to help in collecting, sorting and packing books – members of public are encouraged to come forward to contribute their time

SINGAPORE, 29 October 2019 – NTUC FairPrice (FairPrice) today launched its 37th annual Share-A-Textbook project, aiming to collect a record 550,000 textbooks, the highest ever target for the project so far. This year, over 170 stores, comprising all FairPrice supermarket formats including FairPrice Finest supermarkets, FairPrice Xtra hypermarkets, Warehouse Club and FairPrice Xpress outlets at Esso service stations, will serve as drop-off points from today (29 October) to 30 November 2019. Additional donation points include Tampines Changkat Community Club, Tampines North Community Club, and Tampines West Community Club.

Mr Seah Kian Peng, CEO, NTUC FairPrice, said, “The FairPrice Share-A-Textbook project is our signature community initiative where we engage the community to support the less fortunate, do our part to promote sustainability by reusing and recycling books, while also fostering community spiritedness. As the Project enters its 37th year, we have increased the target for textbook collection so that we can create a greater positive impact on both our society and for the environment. We urge the community to come forward once again to join us in making a difference by donating textbooks and also by volunteering for this meaningful project.”

The launch was held at Our Tampines Hub and officiated by Ms Indranee Rajah, Second Minister for Education, and attended by Mr Seah Kian Peng, CEO, NTUC FairPrice, along with key community partners of the initiative, which include corporates and schools.

Promoting the spirit of volunteerism

This year, over 1,200 volunteers are required to assist in the FairPrice Share-A-Textbook project in areas such as logistics, mass community collection, sorting and distribution of the textbooks. The volunteers are expected to contribute about 7,200 man-hours to the project. To date, close to 700 volunteers from 36 different community partners and 60 schools who have come forward to pledge their support to the project.

Mediacorp is one of the latest partners that have come onboard the project. Through the Mediacorp Cares Programme, staff from Mediacorp will form one of the largest volunteer contingents this year, where about 50 staff will dedicate their time to sort out donated books for collection by beneficiaries.

Interested individuals or organisations are invited to register their interest and participation at fptextbook@fairprice.com.sg. 

Textbook distribution to the community

FairPrice works with social service organisations and Community Development Councils (CDCs) to shortlist students from low-income families, who will be given priority to collect textbooks a day before access is given to the general public. About 25,000 students between the ages of 7 to 16 years are expected to benefit from the priority scheme. The donated textbooks will be made available first to shortlisted students under the priority scheme on the first day of distribution on 7 December 2019 at Our Tampines Hub – priority scheme students will need to bring along their letters of invite to collect their textbooks. The books will be available for the public to collect the next day on 8 December 2019 at the same location.

FairPrice’s sustainability efforts

In addition to serving the needs of the less fortunate in the community, the FairPrice Share-A-Textbook project In addition to serving the needs of the less fortunate in the community, the FairPrice Share-A-Textbook project underlines FairPrice’s drive in championing environmental sustainability by encouraging the community to reuse textbooks. The project has collected, redistributed and recycled over 5.3 million books since 1983 – equivalent to covering the distance of Singapore from east to west more than 30 times, when the textbooks are laid out end-to-end^[1]. This is in addition to ongoing eco-friendly initiatives such as FairPrice’s S$1 million Sustainability Fund and Food Waste Reduction Framework.

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^[1]Distance of mainland Singapore from east to west measures 50 kilometres. Estimated size of textbook is A4 size (29.7cm x 21cm).  5.3 million textbooks can go across this distance more than 30 times.