Charities get creative to spread festive cheer

Hoping to tap the Christmas spirit, The Food Bank Singapore is putting a spin on its year-end donation drive.

Modelled after an Advent calendar, which counts down to Christmas, its campaign calls upon donors to collect a certain item every day, such as biscuits or jam.

At the end of the 10-day challenge, they can drop off the items at 80 collection points islandwide including malls, supermarkets and petrol stations.

The charity, which serves 300,000 beneficiaries, including children from low-income families and family service centres, hopes its campaign will become a holiday tradition for families while giving back to the community, said Ms Jessie Tan, a senior management associate at The Food Bank Singapore.

Other charities have also found creative ways to spread the festive cheer.

Since Dec 10, migrant worker organisation ItsRainingRaincoats has been receiving hand-wrapped gifts from members of the public.

These include Bluetooth earphones, water bottles and umbrellas - items commonly requested by migrant workers served by the charity.

After receiving the gifts, volunteers will distribute them to migrant workers at various construction projects.

ItsRainingRaincoats' founder, Ms Dipa Swaminathan, 50, said: "Our dream is to give every migrant worker in Singapore a Christmas present. This year, given the challenges the migrant worker community has faced, there is an even bigger impetus to make this season special for them."

In September, a pilot programme to allow migrant workers in dormitories to go back out into the community kicked off, more than 16 months after movement curbs were first imposed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Singapore Red Cross (SRC) has also launched a month-long campaign rallying women from across the country to support the elderly, disabled and families in need.

To raise awareness of the campaign, SRC has partnered female influencers and entrepreneurs such as actress Jaime Teo and radio DJ Jean Danker.

Together with other participants, they hope to raise $20,000 overall. Some ways they are doing so include auctioning artworks, making bracelets and playing the piano.

The hard work put in by these charities is paying off.

ItsRainingRaincoats said that in the week since its Christmas campaign was launched, the number of presents it has received is about 20 per cent more than in the same period last year.

The Food Bank Singapore has also seen a 20 to 30 per cent increase in the volume of donations it has received, compared with non-festive months.

The charities hope that members of the public can donate meaningfully.

Beyond Social Services, which serves children and youth from less privileged backgrounds, said in a statement: "Donating items that are less needful is the outcome of not understanding families' cultures, needs and preferences. For instance, donors give premium baby formula milk but families are unable to continue using the same brand as they can't afford it."

Ms Sim Bee Hia, Food from the Heart's chief executive, said the charity tries as much as possible to match items to the nutritional needs of specific beneficiaries, such as giving families with dialysis patients healthier choices.

"Find out the needs of the beneficiaries you hope to help so your good intentions won't go to waste and will impact someone's life positively," she said.