For three months, over 7,000 children diligently took portions of their school pocket money and deposited them into special donation cans.
Most of them, aged five to 16 from mosque madrasahs and kindergartens here, also set aside some of what they received during Hari Raya celebrations.
In all, they collected $150,000, which was donated to The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund yesterday to help students in need.
The initiative by the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis), called Tabung Rahmah, was started to instil values of sharing and giving in children, as well as to empower them to start a savings culture early, said Muis chief executive Abdul Razak Hassan Maricar.
"Many of our children are receiving from the ST School Pocket Money Fund, so why not have those who are more fortunate help those who are less privileged in the wider community? In doing so, they can also rally their family to do it together," he said.
Mr Warren Fernandez, ST editor and Singapore Press Holdings' editor-in-chief of the English/Malay/ Tamil Media Group, who is chairman of the fund, said: "We rely on the good work of many in the community to help us meet the needs of our beneficiaries, so that they get to go to school with a bit of money in their pockets.
"Our beneficiaries include those from the Malay-Muslim community. So it is wonderful to see the community rallying together to pitch in to help out too."
Telok Kurau Primary School pupil Nur Quraisyiyah Abdul Jabbar, 11, said she was glad to have helped. "I hope the person who gets the money will feel happy."
