SINGAPORE: An initiative from the NTUC FairPrice Foundation is to assist low-income families and individuals in Singapore with food vouchers. The Foundation announced on Sunday that it was giving $1 million worth of food vouchers to some 20,000 families in an effort to help alleviate their struggle in the island country. Government and economic experts have told Bikyamasr.com that they believe this will be a solid step in the direction of helping to affect change on the lower, grassroots levels. It will enable families to focus their attention elsewhere and be able to save money for the future. The families and individuals will receive the vouchers through all 87 Citizens Consultative Committees and selected welfare organizations, the Foundation said. The donation was presented to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Tharman Shanmugaratnam at a National Day dinner celebration organized by Taman Jurong Constituency for its residents today. Shanmugaratnam is also the advisor to Jurong GRC Grassroots Organizations. Pointing out that low-income families are especially vulnerable to inflation, Ng Ser Miang, Chairman for NTUC FairPrice Foundation and NTUC FairPrice hopes that the FairPrice Foundation's efforts will help these families defray the cost of daily essential needs. “We hope that our efforts will bring some relief to them,” he said. In a written statement to the press, FairPrice said that it has been working with Grassroots Organizations and welfare organizations in assisting lower income families to meet their daily needs through the FairPrice Food Voucher scheme since 2002. “Including the current donation, the FairPrice Food Voucher scheme has contributed $10 million worth of FairPrice vouchers to meet over 200,000 requests from the needy for financial assistance,” it wrote. The latest consumer price index (CPI) rose to 5.3 percent year-on-year in June as indicated by a recent statement from the Department of Statistics.
