Launch of President's Challenge 2011

Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon, Minister of State for Community Development, Youth & Sports,
Mr Zainudin bin Nordin, President, Football Association of Singapore,
Ladies and gentlemen,

1    As I stand before you to launch President’s Challenge for the 12th year, I cannot help but feel a sense of satisfaction that a small initiative that had its humble beginnings 11 years ago has taken off in ways that I never imagined it would. I am very proud of the fact that our society has shown through its support that it is one that cares, shares, and most importantly, gives generously.

2    This spirit of giving and caring is also evident as we launch this year’s President’s Challenge. Every year, we try to use different platforms to launch President’s Challenge, but each time, the goal is the same. And that is, to attract people from all strata of our society to be a part of the launch celebration. I am pleased to recognise the contributions of MediaCorp personalities who are here with us today, as well as the team of ex-international football stars, who have given their time for this special and meaningful occasion.

3    In 2010, the President’s Challenge raised $12 million. This commendable achievement well exceeded the target of $8 million that I had set early last year.  It has been distributed among 37 beneficiaries to run their programmes as well as fund operating expenses. This year, I have selected 28 beneficiaries supporting various causes, such as the elderly, the disabled, families and youth. Once again, I hope that the $8 million target I have set for this year can be met, if not surpassed.

4    Over the past 12 years, with the help of generous supporters and donors, we have raised close to $100 million for 500 beneficiaries. Half of the funds or some $50 million had been donated to services and programmes for community, family, youth and children, with the rest divided amongst support services and programmes for the disabled, charities running eldercare services, and health and rehabilitative services. Your donations have thus brought about immeasurable benefits and hope to those in need.

5    Apart from the significant amount that was raised in 2010, President’s Challenge also increased its reach through the use of online social media to engage our stakeholders through popular platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Flickr.  We will do even more this year, and give a greater voice to our volunteers and give them more opportunities to share their experiences online.  We hope that you will join us on Facebook and our recently revamped website.

6    I would like to express my thanks to each and every one of you who have been donating towards such causes supported by the President’s Challenge, over the past 11 years. For this year, the Government has introduced a new initiative – the Community Silver Trust. This $1 billion fund will match, dollar for dollar, contributions made towards eligible Voluntary Welfare Organisations, or VWOs, that provide long term care to Singaporeans. Among the 28 beneficiaries for PC 2011, about a third of them are likely to qualify for this dollar-for-dollar matching. That translates into a significant top-up towards the pool of funds that would be available for qualifying VWOs.

7    So I would like to once again appeal to all of you to continue to give generously, to leverage on this opportunity to promote better care and services, particularly for the elderly and disabled in our society.   Every dollar that you donate will go a long way towards improving the lives of the beneficiaries, catered for by our VWOs.

8    Before I conclude, I would also like to express my sincere appreciation to our Challenge sponsors, Singapore Pools and the Singapore Totalisator Board, for their sustained support in covering the administrative costs of President’s Challenge’s fund-raising events over the past years. Their help has allowed us to channel all of the money raised through the President’s Challenge events to the beneficiaries – be they families, youth, persons with disabilities, the elderly, and other social service endeavours.  Thank you also to the Football Association of Singapore for your generous sponsorship and for helping to co-organise this launch.  I would also like to record my appreciation to MediaCorp, the other co-organiser, the teams, sponsors and all those who have already supported or pledged their support for PC2011.

9    It now leaves me to invite you to sit back, relax and enjoy the Football game between MediaCorp and FAS.

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