$60,000 Love Gift, Food Items, Care Packs, and Roses were Distributed to the Underprivileged Community in Singapore during Valentine’s Day and New Year Season.
To bring warmth to the underprivileged community, HIA started a new movement called Love Your (Unseen) Neighbours with the support from over 30 volunteers and various partners and government agencies, to extend Valentine’s Day love to the underprivileged, most neglected community in Singapore on Sunday, 13 February 2022. This was co-organised by SowCare Together, an interfaith project supported by Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY), Singapore Kindness Movement (SKM) and Inter-Racial and Religious Confidence Circle (IRCC) Singapore, which has also mobilised youths to volunteer in the distribution.
The first group of beneficiaries that we served through this initiative included the cardboard collectors and the vulnerable elderlies. They received a total of $60,000 worth of angbaos which was majorly sponsored by Far East Organization, goodie bags filled with fresh vegetables, canned food, rice and masks, and roses, sponsored by Genesis One Tech Farm Pte Ltd, SowCare Ltd and Food Bank.
HIA was honoured to have Ms Denise Phua, the Central Singapore CDC Mayor and Mr Lee Kim Hua, the Senior Director of Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) to be the special volunteers in this initiative, to bring Valentine’s Day love and warmth and to show love through distribution of these items to the needy neighbourhood.
Through this first distribution exercise, caring and generous volunteers from different age groups and backgrounds readily took up the opportunity to show their love and care, and bring about immense cheer and joy to these unseen neighbours who are in need.
Love is more than just a romance or mere sweet talk—it is about putting our care and concern for others above ourselves into action. Love Your (Unseen) Neighbours initiative encourages the act of love, the exhibition of compassion and empathy for people who are in a less well-off state than us, which more often may also be unseen by us.