It was reported by The Straits Times (ST) that President Halimah Yacob made the first donation of only S$40 to The Boys’ Brigade Share-a-Gift (BBSG) charity drive on Wednesday (18 Nov).
Present with her at the opening ceremony at BB Campus in Ganges Avenue yesterday were Prudential Singapore’s chief executive Dennis Tan and FairPrice Group’s CEO Seah Kian Peng. Seah is currently also a Member of Parliament for Marine Parade GRC.
The BBSG programme from The Boys’ Brigade is also supported by the National Council of Social Service and the Ministry of Social and Family Development. As part of the programme, The Boys’ Brigade will also be distributing NTUC FairPrice vouchers to its beneficiaries.
The public is encouraged to also order food hampers through NTUC FairPrice Online, which will be delivered to 24,318 beneficiaries from social service agencies.
It’s not known if NTUC will be retailing the food hampers at cost or making profits out from sale of food hampers to the public.
The public can also donate online via BB PayNow (found displayed in 145 NTUC FairPrice stores across the island) and Giving.sg.
Incidentally, Halimah’s salary is at least $1.6 million a year with other benefits added in. Thanks to her “generosity” of $40 donation, more people are beginning to be aware of The Boys’ Brigade Share-a-Gift charity programme.
Note: The same ST report later included a “clarification” by The Boys’ Brigade, stating that Halimah’s S$40 donation was not the actual donation she had made.
The S$40 donation was reportedly a symbolic one to the first beneficiary to mark the commencement of the BBSG programme, said The Boys’ Brigade.
The amount donated by the President, according to The Boys’ Brigade, was set as such to match the value of NTUC FairPrice vouchers each beneficiary is bound to receive.
Madam Halimah had reportedly pledged to donate to 200 beneficiaries when she agreed to kick-off the programme.
