NTUC to aid 2,500 needy families through new $350k food scheme
NTUC First Campus (NFC) plans to support an estimated 2,500 low-income families this year through a $350,000 Food and Nutrition Programme.
It aims to support families with a monthly household income of below $4,500 - or monthly per capita income of below $1,125 - and with a child enrolled in any one of NFC's more than 140 My First Skool pre-school centres.
The programme, which involves food packs as well as health and nutrition workshops, is funded by donors to NFC's Bright Horizons Fund.
They include investment company Pavilion Capital, Seviora Holdings chief executive officer and executive director Jimmy Phoon, and FairPrice Foundation, the charity set up by supermarket chain FairPrice.
Mr Seah Kian Peng, group chief executive of NTUC Enterprise, said: "NTUC First Campus has joined hands with FairPrice Group to support low- income families and their children under a new Food and Nutrition Programme to make daily necessities accessible to them."
The food packs will include healthy items such as fruit and vegetables, FairPrice Housebrand food products with the "Healthier Choice" label, and Kopitiam cards.
The health and nutrition workshops will cover various child-related health topics such as preparing healthy meals and preventing myopia.
Ms Chan Su Yee, CEO of NTUC First Campus, said: "Nutrition is essential to development and learning in young children. This initiative is part of our efforts to give a leg up to lower-income families who often face greater challenges in ensuring good nutrition."
The programme, which will run till the end of this year, will benefit families such as that of Mr Teo Peng Keng, 56, a former hawker.
He lives with his wife, who is also unemployed, and two children - a three-year-old son and a 15-month-old daughter - in a rental flat in Chin Swee Road.
Mr Teo, who is still looking for a job, said the food packs will lessen his financial burden as more than half of his household's $1,150 monthly government assistance is spent on daily necessities. - THE STRAITS TIMES
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