SINGAPORE – Keppel has pledged $1 million to charitable organisation SPD to support its new senior care centre in Bukit Canberra, which will cater to those who require rehabilitation or assistance with daily living.

The donation will also support the SPD Sheltered Workshop, which provides training and employment to people with disabilities.

On Feb 8, the SPD – which supports people with disabilities – announced the renewal of its partnership with Keppel’s philanthropic arm, Keppel Care Foundation, for the next three years.

The renewed partnership was launched at the SPD Ability Centre in Tiong Bahru by President Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

Called SPD@Canberra, the senior care centre at the integrated sports and community hub in Sembawang will provide rehabilitation and day care services for seniors.

These include physiotherapy, and occupational and speech therapy.

Slated to start in the second quarter of 2024, the centre will also have access to public sports and leisure facilities within Bukit Canberra to support its programmes.

The centre’s seniors in day care will be engaged with adaptive sports, gardening and bingo. It hopes to serve 200 clients each year.

Of Keppel’s $1 million pledge, $700,000 will support SPD in setting up SPD@Canberra and provide subsidies to reduce the financial barriers to services for elderly clients. Clients pay up to $80 per day care session, and up to $98 per rehabilitation session.

The remaining $300,000 will go to the SPD Sheltered Workshop, which helps more than 100 people with disabilities develop skills such as leather crafting and improve their job prospects.

In December 2019, Keppel committed $500,000 to SPD to help enhance the sheltered workshop and support the charity’s clients.

Through skills-based volunteerism, Keppel’s staff also brought their skills in areas such as engineering, safety, and business development to improve the workshop.

For instance, Keppel staff helped SPD rebrand its line of products under the label SPD Artisan Collab, revamped its e-shop and gave SPD advice to improve its operating efficiency and scale up production of its handmade products, such as with the purchase of machines.

After the revamp of SPD’s e-shop in 2020 and the launch of an expanded line of products, the annual sales of its online store increased more than fourfold by 2023.

SPD’s trainees also picked up new skills in leather crafting to boost their employability.

Keppel’s latest donation will go towards increasing production capacity of products such as leather goods and hand-bound journals at the sheltered workshop, and provide further subsidies to its trainees.

Keppel’s staff volunteers will continue to collaborate with SPD to improve work processes and the long-term performance of the sheltered workshop. They will also organise activities to engage the seniors at SPD@Canberra.

One sheltered workshop trainee is 27-year-old Karen Tey, who has cerebral palsy and uses a rollator – a walking frame with wheels – to move around.

She first joined the SPD Sheltered Workshop in 2014 and was engaged in subcontract work such as packing and tagging of products.

She joined the leather stitching programme in 2019, and is now adept at sewing leather products such as key fobs and cardholders, which are for sale online as part of SPD’s Artisan Collab range.

“I like it because I can learn a lot of things,” said Ms Tey, who hopes to learn to use a computer next.

She said leather crafting was difficult for her to pick up in the beginning, but no longer, and is hard at work at the sheltered workshop from 8am to 4.30pm every weekday.

Other activities at the sheltered workshop include digital archiving and data entry, as well as book restoration services.

In a Facebook post on the renewed partnership between Keppel and SPD, President Tharman said: “SPD and Keppel Corporation have just expanded an important partnership, that provides SPD with more resources and volunteers.

“All part of the effort to grow opportunities for people with different abilities to stay active and contribute meaningfully.”

Keppel chairman Danny Teoh said: “With Singapore’s ageing population, there is an increasing need for care services among the elderly, which is even more acute among the elderly with disabilities.

“We are pleased to support SPD’s new senior care centre in Canberra, which is very much aligned with our growing involvement in the senior living sector.”

SPD president Ong Toon Hui said: “This collaboration is an excellent example of strong partnership between the private and people sector to achieve positive social outcomes, empowering our communities and promoting inclusion.

“Through such collaborations… SPD aspires to create a society where everyone, regardless of their ability, can contribute, feel welcome and supported.”