Bag-to-School 2022 For Children
We were excited to partner Yellow Ribbon on this meaningful project to raise funds, pack and deliver essentials to over 200 kids before school kicked-off in January 2022!
Our motive was simple: these kids have a parent who are incarcerated and shouldn’t have to deal with added financial burdens that a new school term entails.
As an example, 8-year-old Mark’s father was incarcerated for drug related offences. His mother was previously a homemaker who looked after Mark and his sister full-time. Due to her spouse’ imprisonment, she had to take up a job at the nearby supermarket working long shifts as the sole bread winner for the family of 3.
The family could barely make ends meet and could only afford very bare necessities. Mark’s confidence and self-esteem plummeted as he had to borrow stationery from his classmates at times and had to wear worn-out shoes.
So we went to work.
Every SGD50 we raised went towards supporting 1 child with a “bag-to-school” pack containing:
– A school bag
– A water bottle
– Vouchers to purchase new socks & shoes
Ever thankful to our donors, we raised over SGD15,000 for this project.
What I remember during the packing process was a teenager-tag-team who came down to help pack. The girls were polite and very helpful. Kudos to their parents for raising them well! They could have been anywhere during the holidays, but they chose to come down, help with the packing and support a meaningful initiative.
Shout-out to our partners Yellow Ribbon who are doing great work all over Singapore!
Their purpose is to help inmates and ex-offenders rebuild their lives and lower the recidivism rate through skills and long term career development, with an effective aftercare support network.
As the lead agency championing Hope, Forgiveness, Acceptance and Second Chances for ex-offenders, Yellow Ribbon strives towards building a safer and more inclusive Singapore.
Truly, anyone can make a difference; and everyone should make a difference. Together, we can create thousands of positive ripples to make the world a better place.