FairPrice goodies for parents of newborns

They will get $100 worth of household items; kit estimated to benefit 140,000 babies in all

He Tian Kun, 31, a network engineer and Vian Tee, 33, an events organiser, along with their four-month-old baby Mia, with an example of the FairPrice FairMily Kit at the FairPrice Walks With U event at the Marina Barrage on May 21, 2017.
ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG

Parents of newborn babies will receive $100 worth of household items from supermarket chain FairPrice, including infant formula milk, diapers and other baby goods.

The FairPrice FairMily Kit will be given to all citizens born between January last year and December 2019. It is expected to be worth $14 million in all and benefit an estimated 35,000 babies a year, or 140,000 over the eligibility period.

Parents can sign up online at www.ntucgoodstart.sg and will get a redemption card for the kit by post.

The kit was announced yesterday during the FairPrice Walks With U mass walk at the Marina Barrage. It is part of the NTUC Good Start Bundle, also for parents of citizens born during this period, which was launched last month in partnership with the People's Association's Embracing PArenthood Movement.

The bundle includes one year of health insurance coverage for newborns through insurer Income, a parent-child activity book and more gifts to be announced in future.

Labour chief Chan Chun Sing, who is also Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, said: "Together with the efforts of all the government agencies and NTUC, we can create that more pro-family environment.

Inspiring view to get the feet moving: With the Singapore skyline as their backdrop, participants took a stroll at the annual FairPrice Walks With U event at the Marina Barrage yesterday morning. FairPrice chief executive Seah Kian Peng also announced a scheme which gives families of newborn babies $100 of groceries, including baby products such as milk powder and diapers. It is available to citizens born between January last year and December 2019. ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG

"The most important thing is to give our families a sense of assurance that when they bring up their children, Singapore can be the best place for them... because we have pro-family policies, because we have schemes to help our families feel assured that whatever challenges there may be in bringing up their children, we can all work this out together."

FairPrice chief executive Seah Kian Peng said: "We recognise that milk powder prices have been rising and we want to do our part to help alleviate some of the costs with this kit."

The FairPrice kit includes Danone Nutricia's Aptamil follow-on infant formula, a range FairPrice started bringing in last year.

Mr Seah said the chain will have new milk powder brands by the end of next month, and "as to whether we will also look at our own house brand, that is also part of our plans, but these are (in the) early stages".

The move comes after the Government implemented measures to address rising milk powder prices.

Mr Seah added that earlier this year, the NTUC FairPrice Foundation-CDC Milk Fund was launched to make formula milk more affordable for low-income families and it was likely to be a long-term fixture.

Yesterday, FairPrice Foundation pledged $1.2 million for grocery vouchers to help about 20,000 low-income households.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on May 22, 2017, with the headline FairPrice goodies for parents of newborns. Subscribe