About 1,000 employees at Citibank's Millenia Tower office drank enough of it to raise the sum in one year. Each time they bought a drink from one of the 45 vending machines, 10 cents went to the fund.

A cheque for $138,000 was presented to The Straits Times editor Han Fook Kwang by Citibank's country head Jonathan Larsen at a cocktail event held by the bank on Thursday. Guests at the event included Mr Cedric Foo, deputy group president of Neptune Orient Lines, and Mr Shaun Meadows, CEO of Aviva.

Despite being hit hard by the global economic downturn, Citibank wants to encourage other companies to join it in contributing to those less fortunate.

Mr Han said: 'It is very gratifying during this difficult period to receive such tremendous support from Citibank. We expect more students to need help and we aim to help as many as we can.'