• Food From The Heart to receive $200,000 from FairPrice Foundation to help 1,700 needy families meet daily needs

Singapore, 21 July 2009 – In line with its mission to provide a better life for the community, NTUC FairPrice Foundation has donated S$200,000 to Food From The Heart to fund its operations and community programmes. The donation is expected to help 1,700 families who are beneficiaries of FFTH. During this National Day period, FairPrice Foundation also rallied staff volunteers to participate in Food From The Heart’s Food Goodie Bag Programme, helping to pack and distribute essential items to needy pupils. Goodie bags containing essential items such as oil, rice and canned food were given away to 50 needy students from Evergreen Primary School and their families today.

“During these challenging times, food distribution programmes such as those run by Food From The Heart are especially relevant to needy Singaporeans struggling to make ends meet,” said Mr Wee Leong How, Managing Director (Group Corporate Services) of NTUC FairPrice and General Manager of NTUC FairPrice Foundation. “As the country gears up for National Day celebrations, we do not forget the underprivileged in the community who need our care and support. We are glad to partner Food From the Heart in providing a better life for the community by helping the poor and needy through this programme.”

Mr Wee, who helped in the distribution of goodie bags to needy pupils from Evergreen Primary today, was joined by more than 10 staff volunteers from NTUC FairPrice. In January this year, to mark a $40,000 donation of goodie bags to 1,000 needy families in Singapore, FairPrice management and staff also helped deliver essential items and red packets to needy residents in one-room flats at Redhill Close.

Ms Christine Laimer, founder of Food from the Heart, said, “The donation enables us to extend our outreach to more needy families and students who need help during this downturn. We are grateful to NTUC FairPrice Foundation for its consistent support, not only in donations and providing relief to many underprivileged families but also in raising awareness for the programme in the community.”

Mr Tan Kah Teo, Principal of Evergreen Primary School, said: “We are truly grateful for FairPrice Foundation’s contribution to our students and the community. It is heartening to see that there is such a heightened concern for those truly in need among us. I am proud to see Singaporeans caring for one another and working together to become a stronger and united Singapore.”

NTUC FairPrice Foundation has been supporting Food From The Heart since 2006. In 2006, FairPrice raised $200,000 in aid of FFTH in the FairPrice Golf Charity. At the launch of FairPrice Foundation in March 2008, the foundation donated $200,000 to FFTH. In May 2008, with rice prices on the increase, NTUC FairPrice provided 900 bags of rice at subsidised rates to FFTH as the organisation had difficulty obtaining rice at reasonable price for its Food Goodie Bag Programme. With the $200,000 donation this year, FairPrice Foundation continues to support FFTH’s objective in providing for the needy.

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About Food From The Heart

Food From The Heart is a registered non-profit organisation which runs a voluntary food distribution programme. Its 1,700 active volunteers collect unsold bread from participating bakeries and deliver them to 120 welfare organisations such as children’s homes, homes for the elderly, associations for the disabled and activity centres for senior citizens. An average of 20,000 kg of bread is collected and given to the needy each month. The organisation also runs 29 food distribution centres with residents’ committees and schools to distribute bread and goody bags containing essential food items to needy families each week.