Singapore, 6 October 2016 - The Singapore Red Cross (SRC) today announced plans for a new 8-storey building to support the expansion of its services and outreach to the local community, at its fourth SRC Awards Ceremony held at the Red Cross House.
Mr Tee Tua Ba, SRC Chairman and Mr Benjamin William, SRC Secretary General/CEO, also presented how SRC will be part of the global ‘One Billion Coalition for Resilience’ transformative initiative, SRC’s expansion plans and a model of the new building to SRC Patron President Tony Tan Keng Yam, who presided over the Awards Ceremony as Guest-of-Honour.
At the ceremony to recognise 26 individuals and 7 organisations for their dedicated service to SRC, President Tony Tan said, “I am heartened that SRC will scale up its humanitarian services to empower more people with lifesaving skills, and to strengthen community resilience. Over the years, SRC’s volunteers and donors have contributed significantly to the spirit of community service in Singapore. I am also glad that SRC announced its plans to construct a new building which will support the expansion of local community services. The new building will provide more resources and opportunities for people to embrace volunteerism and philanthropy in their humanitarian endeavours.”
Mr Tee Tua Ba, SRC Chairman said, “The need to strengthen resilience is especially relevant to Singapore, given our ageing population and the global security threat of terrorism. Our new expanded premises will serve as a hub for the growth of our humanitarian services. This will enable the Singapore Red Cross to play a key role in empowering the community to be better prepared for emergencies. Not only are we are committed to ramping up our outreach to volunteers and beneficiaries; with the new building, we will launch new services, such as a day-activity centre in the city, an elder-care monitoring service, and new social enterprises to boost our support for vulnerable groups in our community.”
As part of building community resilience, the SRC will increase its capacity to train more people in first aid - physical and psychological; augment its blood donation advocacy programmes, and expand its pool of blood donors to 3% from 1.8% of the residential population; enhance its response to local and regional disasters, with a special focus on disaster risk reduction; and boost its fleet of transporters to serve more elders and persons with disabilities.
From now until November, the SRC will run a beneficiaries-fronted campaign to raise awareness and support for its four key community services:
- FoodAid and home visits to provide disadvantaged families with nutritious food.
- TransportAid and escort service to help needy elderly and disabled get to and from their medical treatment and rehabilitation.
- Community-Led Action for REsilience (C.L.A.R.E) programme that trains and mobilises volunteers to be citizen first responders to provide first aid, eldercare and befriending services in their neighbourhood.
- Red Cross Home for the Disabled, a residential home and day activity centre for people with severe and multiple disabilities.
At the Ceremony, President met with beneficiaries who were profiled in the campaign’s cinematic documentary videos. He also interacted with Red Cross Youth, who briefed him on their efforts on social inclusion, blood ambassadorship, as well as local and overseas humanitarian programmes.
Annex A - About Singapore Red Cross Awards and Recipients