By Vanessa Teo
Speaking at the ‘U Care Back To School Fair’ on 10 December 2011, NTUC Care and Share Director Zainudin Nordin announced that about $9 million was disbursed in 2011 to help about 90,000 low income union members and their families through six different assistance programmes.
The assistance programmes are the U Stretch vouchers, U Care Back to School vouchers, Family Recreation and Fun Carnivals, U Care Education Cofunding scheme, and donations to NTUC Eldercare Trust and NTUC First Campus Bright Horizons Fund.
Said Mr Zainudin: “This is no small amount by any measure, and it goes to show that the Labour Movement cares a lot about our low income members and their families. In fact, we had raised the income ceiling since this August so that we could help as many low-income families as possible.”
And one of the ways to better help low-income union members and their families is through its yearly organised ‘U Care Back To School Fair’, where members are able to purchase school related items at discounted prices. They are also able to use their Back to School vouchers at the fair.
“The purpose of the U Care Back to School vouchers is thus to help our low-income members defray the cost of their children’s school expenses for the new school year… I hope many of them will drop by at our ‘Back to School Fair’ to use their vouchers and enjoy all the exclusive discounts and promotions. This is the reason why NTUC organises the ‘U Care Back To School Fair’ ever year, to complement the Back To School vouchers so as to help our members stretch their dollar and bring greater value to them,” added Mr Zainudin.
A highlight at this year’s ‘Back To School Fair’ will also be the U Care Learning Zone, where educational talks for parents focus on healthy eating for their children, social networking sites and how to keep their children safe online. Children can also participate in creative art and crafts workshops such as caricature drawing and designing their own storybook.
Mr Raninyi was one parent who found such an experience innovative. He said: “The fact that my child can come here to learn while we parents get good deals is kind of different from a normal fair. This is my first time here, and I am enjoying it.”
The event also saw a caring moment as the Labour Movement presented a donation of $500,000 from the U Care Fund to the NTUC First Campus Bright Horizons Fund, which will help children of low-income families attend pre-school at My First Skool Centres. The new NTUC Central Committee members were also present to interact with union members at the fair as they toured the compound on that day.
