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The Singapore Indian Association (IA) kickstarted its Project Covid Aid on July 5 by distributing essential food and toiletries packs to 100 households in the Jalan Besar GRC, the constituency where it is located.
Management committee members, ordinary members and volunteers worked together with Whampoa Community Club, whose case workers provided the association with a list of hard-up families.
"The management committee has set community engagement and social service as one of its goals," said Mr Vishnu Pillai, IA's president.
"Giving back to society was one of the tenets IA was built on and we wanted to continue this endeavour.
"We felt there were many families who were already facing financial difficulties and the situation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic would create even more problems for them. So, we wanted to help them in this difficult period."
IA collected about $5,000 in cash and products from its members and their friends.
"We mainly leant on our members and their connections to fund the project," said Mr Pillai.
"We achieved our financial target."
The care packs were also distributed among the residents of the Sree Narayana Mission and individuals who contacted IA.
"We made sure to include families of all races and religions as this is a national initiative," said Mr Pillai.
The volunteers started work on July 3, when IA received the bulk of the items. They packed the items into boxes on July 4.
"Although the current safety measures did pose some complications, we managed to be compliant through planning and supervision, thus ensuring the safety of the management committee members and volunteers," said Mr Pillai.
"The genuine appreciation from the recipients and their bright smiles provided a boost to us."
The care packs were distributed for the second time on July 11.
The final distribution will be on July 20.
"This is a proud chapter in the history of IA," said Mr Pillai.
"This initiative follows IA's involvement in Sinda's Project Give 2019 and the Community Chest Fu Dai (bags of blessing) 2020."
IA is now planning to carry out similar initiatives every quarter - pegged to ethnic festivities such as Deepavali, Chinese New Year and Hari Raya.
"We are also looking at helping students with financial difficulties," said Mr Pillai.
V.K. SANTOSH KUMAR
