Coronavirus: The Courage Fund has received more than $1 million in donations for vulnerable groups

The Courage Fund supports vulnerable individuals and groups such as patients, healthcare workers and members of the community affected by serious infectious diseases. ST PHOTOS: KUA CHEE SIONG

SINGAPORE - More organisations are contributing to a fund which supports vulnerable individuals and groups such as patients, healthcare workers and members of the community affected by serious infectious diseases, with more than $1 million donated so far.

Insurer Great Eastern and Keppel Corp's philanthropic arm Keppel Care Foundation have made six-figure donations to The Courage Fund, which was set up in 2003 for healthcare workers and victims who battled the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars).

Great Eastern is contributing $200,000 to The Courage Fund, while Keppel Care Foundation is donating $300,000 to support communities here affected by the coronavirus outbreak, the organisations announced separately on Friday (Feb 14).

The Courage Fund, facilitated by the National Council of Social Service and its fund raising arm the Community Chest, has received more than $1 million in donations as of Friday, with $250,000 from the President's Challenge and $300,000 from CapitaLand's CapitaLand Hope Foundation earlier this month.

Separately, the Singapore Red Cross has received more than $374,000 in public online donations to date, excluding government seed funding and corporate donations, to aid the communities in China affected by the coronavirus outbreak.

The Singapore Red Cross launched a fund raising appeal for this on Feb 4, with the Government saying then that it was contributing $1 million in seed money. Business China also said at the time that it had raised $387,500 from its individual and corporate members for the Singapore Red Cross.

Keppel Care Foundation chief executive Ho Tong Yen said on Friday that Keppel Volunteers, the group's volunteerism movement, will also coordinate with the National Council of Social Service and the Community Chest, to explore how its staff volunteers can provide further support to communities in Singapore affected by the outbreak of the coronavirus, also called the Covid-19 virus.

Together with its donation to The Courage Fund, Keppel has committed more than $900,000 to relief efforts related to the coronavirus outbreak, including contributions to the Singapore Red Cross and from Keppel Land China Limited to the Shanghai Charity Foundation in China.

Keppel Land China's three million yuan ($598,000) donation to the Shanghai Charity Foundation, one of China's largest charity foundations, will support the deployment of medical teams from Shanghai and the provision of medical and other supplies to Hubei province, the epicentre of the outbreak, and other affected regions in China, according to a separate statement by Keppel on Thursday.

Great Eastern has also set aside a $1 million support package for its customers in Singapore, which is effective from Friday until the end of 2020, the insurer said.

Its customers and/or their immediate family members who are hospitalised as a result of the coronavirus will receive a cash benefit of $200 per day of hospitalisation up to a maximum of 60 days, and a lump sum of $20,000 will be paid out in the case of death.

The support package supplements the existing coverage for policyholders, Great Eastern said.

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