How HSBC Singapore is contributing to local fund raising efforts

Despite the majority working remotely, HSBC Singapore employees have raised more than S$50,000 in donations through self-driven ground-up initiatives to help more vulnerable members of the community affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.

The activities complement HSBC Singapore’s donation of S$750,000 to three charities in June 2020.

Beneficiaries include low-income families, cancer patients, people with disabilities and the elderly. The recipient charities and organisations are The Food Bank Singapore, Singapore Association of Mental Health, Willing Hearts, Singapore Cancer Society and Community Chest, the fundraising and engagement arm of the National Council of Social Service (NCSS).

Some of the fundraising activities include:

• Genevieve Tarriela, an employee in the Human Resources department, has been sewing cotton face masks since the pandemic started and giving them away to charitable organisations in Singapore. The initiative is called ‘Sew Happy to Share’ and has grown quickly with a current stable of 30 volunteers from the public volunteering more than 150 hours sewing and distributing face masks.
• HR also held a department-wide charity auction that raised $1,775 for Project Love: Overcoming COVID-19 for Families in Crisis by New Life Community Services, a member of NCSS.
• Employees from HSBC’s Wealth and Personal Banking (WPB) business raised more than S$30,000 for The Food Bank Singapore by donating S$1 for every HSBC customer’s credit card transaction made at Shell stations island-wide.
• Global Private Banking business held a department-wide charity auction that raised S$14,000 for The Food Bank Singapore.
• WPB organised a face mask design competition, then manufactured and sold the winning entries to raise funds for the Singapore Association of Mental Health.
• A team from the Global Liquidity and Cash Management department competed in the ‘Race against Cancer’ virtual run to raise more than $3,000 for the Singapore Cancer Society.
• Tony Lewis, an employee in Securities Services, cycled 867.7km in May and June 2020 in his neighbourhood to raise SGD 820 for the Willing Hearts feeding programme.
• Graduate recruits in Commercial Banking challenged colleagues to complete a collective 100,000 minutes of exercise while raising $1,805 for the Community Chest.

Tony Cripps, CEO for HSBC Singapore, said: “Since the outbreak of COVID-19, HSBC Singapore’s colleagues have gone above and beyond in support of our clients but they haven’t stopped here.

"Across the bank, our people have stepped up, together as teams and in their own capacity, to help the more vulnerable members of our society, especially during this challenging time. I’m very proud and thankful for this generosity of spirit.”

Aside from the ad hoc fundraising activities, together with its partners, HSBC volunteers have collectively contributed more than 200,000 community service hours for the benefit of more than 10,000 to 20,000 needy people over the past 20 years.

Photo / 123RF

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