Citi raises nearly $177k to help migrant workers
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Citi Singapore showcased the talent of youth supported under the Business Times Budding Artists Fund during its global community day campaign last year. This year, the bank committed $150,000 to the ChildAid concert organised by The Straits Times and The Business Times.
PHOTO: CITI SINGAPORE
Melissa Yip
Citi Singapore employees have raised $176,749 for non-profit group Humanitarian Organisation for Migrant Economics (Home) as part of its month-long campaign called Citi Supports Home.
The campaign is one of Citi's three key initiatives in supporting Covid-19 relief programmes in Singapore.
Unable to hold physical fund-raising events, Citi Singapore staff ramped up their creative efforts, organising 12 initiatives for Home on fund-raising website Giving.sg in May and June. These included a silent auction, a yuzu chiffon cake bake sale and a fitness class.
Mr Amol Gupte, Citi's Asean head and country officer for Singapore, said: "The migrant workers are among Singapore's worst-hit communities in the pandemic.
"We want to continue demonstrating Citi's values through our philanthropic efforts alongside our employee giving, so that we can make a positive difference to those in need."
The funds will support migrant workers, giving them emergency cash handouts so that they can pay for necessities such as food, phone card top-ups and medicine.
Home's executive director Catherine James said: "I would like to thank the various teams at Citi Singapore for supporting migrant workers during this very challenging time. We are all affected by Covid-19, but there is no doubt that low-wage migrant workers are disproportionately affected."
Separately, Citi Singapore has committed $150,000 to the ChildAid 2020 concert organised by The Straits Times and The Business Times.
Of the amount, $75,000 goes to support disadvantaged students with daily allowances through The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund.
The other half goes to The Business Times Budding Artists Fund, which helps artistically gifted children from low-income families pursue the arts.
The 16th edition of the annual ChildAid concert was held online on Wednesday night. The funds raised over the years have helped more than 170,000 children.
