UAESBC members ended 2020 on a humbling note by spending an afternoon visiting houses of vulnerable families in the East Coast GRC on Sunday, 20th December. As part of the SG Together movement, nine UAESBC volunteers, in a collaboration with the East Coast GRC Grassroots Organisations (GROs), installed energy-saving light bulbs in the HDB units of disadvantaged households in the GRC to reduce their energy usage and electricity bills. The UAESBC pledged $10,000 to the effort and presented the cheque to East Coast GRC GROs where Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and Adviser to East Coast GRC GROs, Dr Maliki Osman, received the cheque on behalf of the GRC. At the cheque presentation ceremony, Dr Maliki announced that the South East CDC has committed to match the donation amount and therefore altogether $20,000 will be used to benefit 400 families all across the East Coast GRC for the programme. In addition to installing the energy saving LED light bulbs, the UAESBC volunteers also gave goody bags to each household containing gifts and contributions from UAESBC staff and members including dnata, The Cookie Workshop and Emirates Airlines. The UAESBC volunteers visited the following beneficiaries on Sunday:
Mr Azlan has been unemployed since year 2010 due to medical conditions and now has to go dialysis thrice weekly. His wife, Mdm Faridah, works as a porter in hospital and they survive on meagre income. He has two married children and they are staying on their own.
Mdm M (not in photo) is newly widowed, frail and has mobility issues. She has a heart condition and is currently living alone with a helper. She is not working and has no income.
Mr Yeo is a mentally challenged man, living with two brothers. All of them are not married and the family has no income.
The event was covered by all major news outlets including, CNA, Channel 5, Channel 8, Suria, Medicorp Radio News, Straits Times, Lianhe Zaobao and Berita Harian:
It was a memorably positive and humbling experience for all UAESBC volunteers that day and a touching end for 2020.
You can browse through photos of the cheque presentation and volunteers in action below: