• Donation deadline is till 8 December 2013 at 140 FairPrice stores including 22 FairPrice Xpress stores located at Esso service stations.

Singapore, 29 November 2013 – NTUC FairPrice (FairPrice) is making an appeal for members of the public to donate their textbooks so that more needy students can benefit from the annual Share-A-Textbook Project. As of today, the Project has only received 100,000 textbooks, which is less than half its target, to meet this year’s projected demands since the textbook donation drive was launched two weeks ago.

With barely over a week of the textbook donation drive to go, FairPrice aims to collect at least 385,000 textbooks to help some 20,000 needy students who have registered to receive textbooks this year. To facilitate the higher target, which is 10 per cent more compared to last year, FairPrice has also worked with Exxon-Mobil to extend donation points to 22 FairPrice Xpress outlets at Esso service stations, making it more convenient for the community to donate their textbooks. The public can now donate textbooks at all 140 FairPrice supermarkets, FairPrice Finest, FairPrice Xtra and FairPrice Xpress outlets at Esso service stations spread conveniently across Singapore. The deadline for dropping off these pre-loved textbooks is 8 December 2013.

Mr Jonas Kor, Chairman of the FairPrice CSR Committee and Director for Corporate Communications at NTUC FairPrice said, “Collecting the remaining 285,000 textbooks in just over a week will be a challenge but we are confident that with the strong support of the community, we can achieve the higher target this year. In the past, we have also noticed that people tend to procrastinate and wait till the closing date. We encourage the public to do so earlier so that our volunteers have adequate time to sort the books for collection. We also continue to appeal for the public to generously donate their textbooks to help needy students save on textbook expenses. Donating textbooks will also help to protect the environment by saving precious resources and recycling.”

This year, FairPrice partners over 110 organisations that assist in logistics, promotional efforts, mass community collection, sorting and distribution for the FairPrice Share-A-Textbook project. Over 1,000 student volunteers and volunteers from Supporting and Community Partners are involved in this year’s initiative.

FairPrice also partners Volunteer Welfare Organisations (VWOs) and Community Development Councils (CDCs) to shortlist names of students from low-income families who will receive “priority student” status to pick the textbooks first before the general public. To date, some 20,000 students have been registered under the priority scheme this year – an increase of about 10 per cent from last year.

First launched in 1983, the project has grown year-on-year to benefit more students and have eased the cost of education for needy families in Singapore. Over 2.75 million used textbooks have been recycled to date.

The public distribution day will take place on 15 December 2013 from 9am to 3pm at Changkat Changi Secondary School, Gan Eng Seng School, Yio Chu Kang Secondary school and West Spring Secondary School. For more information on the FairPrice Share-A-Textbook, please visit www.fairprice.com.sg or www.facebook.com/thatsmyfairprice. For enquiries on this Project, contact the Project hotline at 6424 7505 (during office hours) or email: fptextbook@fairprice.com.sg