|
Mr Daniel (right) receiving the donation from Vitol CEO Ian Taylor. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE
|
MR KHO Hui Meng, who heads the Asia office of the Dutch oil-trading company Vitol, was raised in a tiny Sarawak kampung and knows what it is like to grow up poor.
So do many of Vitol's other employees, he said.
The company's Singapore-based Asia headquarters has thus chosen to support The Straits Times' School Pocket Money Fund, which hands out pocket money to needy primary and secondary students every month.
Its gift of $200,000 is among this year's largest.
Mr Kho said: 'Even though Singapore is relatively prosperous, there are still people who are underprivileged.
'The thrust of the Vitol Charitable Foundation is to help the poor and needy, especially children,' he added.
The company's charity fund has also made donations to communities in China, Laos, Myanmar, Indonesia, Africa, Latin America and Europe.
Mr Peter Khoo, the organising chairman of the ST School Pocket Money Fund, said the current economic challenges will make it even harder for the poor to get by, so Vitol's donation was 'very much welcomed'.
The $200,000 cheque was presented to Mr Patrick Daniel, editor-in-chief of Singapore Press Holdings' English and Malay Newspapers Division, last evening.
GRACE CHUA
|
