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Community outreach: What individuals and companies are doing to contribute to the coronavirus fight

Filling stations are manned by volunteers at Migrant Workers' Centre. They work quickly to transfer the sanitisers into the recipient’s clean, and labelled bottles. (PHOTO: Temasek)
Filling stations are manned by volunteers at Migrant Workers' Centre. They work quickly to transfer the sanitisers into the recipient’s clean, and labelled bottles. (PHOTO: Temasek Foundation)

SINGAPORE — Temasek Foundation will be distributing zero-alcohol hand sanitiser to almost 1.5 million households in Singapore. Initiated by Temasek Foundation, a non-profit organisation under Temasek Holdings, the distribution exercise will take place progressively across 109 People’s Association Community Clubs (from 23 to 29 March) and 16 participating CapitaLand malls (from 23 March to 5 April).

The 16 participating CapitaLand malls are Bedok Mall; Bugis Junction; Bugis+; Bukit Panjang Plaza; Clarke Quay; Funan; IMM; JCube; Junction 8; Lot One Shoppers’ Mall; Plaza Singapura; Raffles City Singapore; SingPost Centre; Tampines Mall; The Star Vista; and Westgate.

Users must bring along these two items to any of the above venues to collect their 500ml of sanitiser solution: a #BringYourOwnBottle collection pamphlet and one or more empty and clean bottles.

#BringYourOwnBottle pamphlets. (PHOTO: Temasek Foundation)
#BringYourOwnBottle pamphlets. (PHOTO: Temasek Foundation)

All households are encouraged to look out for the pamphlet that will be delivered by Singapore Post to their mailboxes in the coming days. Residents should note the specified collection date on their pamphlet.

On top of that, Temasek Foundation provided hand sanitiser to Sree Narayana Nursing Home and Jamiyah Nursing Home (Darul Syifaa) last Friday (13 March), as part of a larger distribution of hand sanitiser to close to 400 nursing homes and hospices, day rehabilitation or care centres, senior care centres, active ageing hubs, maintenance day care centres, and senior activity centres.

Both distributions are part of Temasek Foundation’s Stay Prepared initiative to support the community care sector to care for the elderly and other groups who are particularly vulnerable during the COVID-19 outbreak.

For more information about the #BYOBclean initiative, visit stayprepared.sg/BYOBclean, or call the hotline at 1800-738-2000, from 9am to 9pm daily between 16 March to 5 April 2020.

Support our local F&B industry campaign. (PHOTO: Tiger)
Support our local F&B industry campaign. (PHOTO: Tiger)

Beer brand Tiger is also embarking on its own outreach programme, by launching the #SupportOurStreets regional initiative in Singapore, where they aim to raise over S$1.3 million to support the local F&B industry. The funds will help the local F&B community such as coffee shops, food courts, bars, pubs and restaurants tide through the unprecedented challenges from the impact of COVID-19.

Commenting on this announcement, Andy Hewson, Managing Director, Asia Pacific Breweries Singapore said, “Tiger was born on the streets of Singapore. Without the streets and our famous F&B outlets, there would not be Tiger. As the beer of Singapore, we have strong roots in the community and have weathered many storms together with generations of Singaporeans. We want to do our part to help our local F&B partners revive faster until they can thrive again. #SupportOurStreets is our pledge and the initiatives will provide a tangible means for us to come together with consumers in a bid to raise over S$1.3 million to support our local F&B community.”

Starting from today until 31 May, consumers can support their favourite local F&B community by going to Tiger’s website to make a S$10 contribution. There is no limit to the number of times consumers may make a contribution.

Shopee support local campaign. (PHOTO: Shopee)
Shopee support local campaign. (PHOTO: Shopee)

Online e-commerce platform Shopee today (20 April) announced that it was launching the Shopee Seller Support Package (SSSP), a S$1 million package created to help local sellers and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) navigate the current economic climate. The package aims to aid local offline retailers to establish an online presence and diversify revenue streams, and support existing sellers to further scale their businesses during this unprecedented time. Under the scheme, sellers will receive support through: Lowered advertising fees, cashback and free shipping costs; vouchers and paid advertising credits; and training and support to help new sellers start, grow and succeed on Shopee

In addition, Shopee has rolled out a ‘#SGUnited Shopee Support Local’ campaign to drive more visibility and sales to local sellers and SMEs by directing traffic to their online stores.

Medical practitioners redeeming Gong Cha drinks at an outlet. (PHOTO: Gong Cha)
Medical practitioners redeeming Gong Cha drinks at an outlet. (PHOTO: Gong Cha)

Bubble tea brand Gong Cha had embarked on their ‘Thank You Healthcare Heroes’ campaign on 20 February, offering their Mango Green Tea at S$1 to healthcare staff. The campaign ran for more than two weeks, with more than 5,000 healthcare employees redeeming the drinks, in a statement shared with Yahoo Lifestyle SEA by Cheong Zhaoyong, Brand Director.

He added, “Gong Cha also worked with OCBC Bank to provide 1,000 cups of bubble tea free to Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) healthcare workers every day for two weeks, starting from 17 February. More than 14,000 cups of bubble tea were redeemed by TTSH staff during this period.”

Last Thursday (12 March), the company delivered more than 600 complimentary cups of bubble tea to all frontline workers at the NUHS (National University Health System)-led Western cluster of healthcare institutions, including National University Hospital, Alexandra Hospital, Ng Teng Fong General Hospital, St Luke Hospital and Choa Chu Kang Polyclinic.

“Gong Cha is also in talks with SingHealth to make an arrangement with SGH for their frontline nurses, as well as drinks sponsorship to other healthcare beneficiaries such as HomeCare Assist, the philanthropic arm of Changi Health Fund under Changi General Hospital. Gong Cha will also continue to periodically send complimentary bubble tea to the frontline team at National Centre of Infectious Diseases within TTSH,” Zhaoyong shared.

In another initiative, Gong Cha will support Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth at their upcoming SG United campaign at Westgate from 21 March to 15 April, where all healthcare employees are entitled to drinks at S$1.

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Staff of Changi General Hospital posing with Miss Tam Chiak bento sets. (PHOTO: Miss Tam Chiak)
Staff of Changi General Hospital posing with Miss Tam Chiak bento sets. (PHOTO: Miss Tam Chiak)

Owner of local popular food blog, Maureen, better known as Miss Tam Chiak, had donated 100 bento sets to Changi General Hospital on 6 March. The food bentos delivered were from her recently launched restaurant, Chiak Local at Tampines Food Co. With the success of the launch, Miss Tam Chiak decided to give back and spread love to the frontline healthcare workers who worked tirelessly during this critical period.

Community outreach by bubble tea brand Milksha at their Novena outlet. (PHOTO: Milksha)
Community outreach by bubble tea brand Milksha at their Novena outlet. (PHOTO: Milksha)

Another bubble tea brand Milksha has given out 500 bottles of disinfectant to date since their initiative started on 6 Feb. For consumers looking to procure a bottle, Milksha is offering a free 50ml disinfectant per pax; just bring along an opaque bottle and approach any staff at any of their four outlets to fill your bottle up. There will be no purchase of drinks needed. Milksha’s Singapore outlets are at Novena Square, Paya Lebar Quarter, Funan and Suntec City Mall.

Milksha also sent 200 cups of bubble tea to the National University Hospital over four days as a little way of thanking the hospital personnel.