FairPrice celebrates 40 years of distributing used textbooks to poor families, latest Singapore news

The community project, which provides educational resources to needy students, turned 40 this year and attracted a record 2,700 volunteers.

NTUC FairPrice’s annual Share-A-Textbook project not only helps low-income families, but also promotes environmental sustainability through the reuse and recycling of textbooks.

Since its inception in 1983, the program has collected, redistributed and recycled over 6.8 million textbooks, helping over 280,000 people.

Last year, 895,000 textbooks and assessments were collected and redistributed.

More than 10,000 volunteers and partners from communities, schools and the general public are involved in cleaning, sorting and distributing books.

At Tuesday’s celebration of the project’s 40th anniversary, FairPrice CEO Seah Kian Peng called on more members of the public to volunteer and donate textbooks.

In November, all FairPrice outlets will act as donation drop-off points for the public to donate textbooks.

The book will be distributed at Our Tampines Hub in December, giving families in need a first read before it is released to the general public.

Volunteer Lucas Chua, 26, has been supporting the effort for the past six years.

“Watching the beneficiaries receive their textbooks is really a different kind of joy. He joked that he would continue volunteering for the next 40 years.

Minister of Education Chan Chun Singh, who was the guest of honor at the ceremony, said the initiative goes beyond simply handing out textbooks to convey values ​​such as gratitude.

“For all of us who have the privilege of owning textbooks, textbooks are not just something to use or throw away,” he said.

“We are only custodians of those textbooks, to appreciate the opportunity to use them and to pass them on. In Singapore today, it is easy to forget that there are people in need of help.”

On Tuesday, Marine Parade GRC MP Seah kicked off this year’s Innovation and Technology Hackathon.

The initiative, now in its second year, aims to raise environmental awareness among young people. Secondary and tertiary students are invited to explore themes related to reducing carbon emissions, reducing waste, and promoting community sharing.

Participants in the 3-day event are required to create proposals and pitch their ideas to mentors. Prizes up to $10,000 are on offer.

Seah said: Our young people will inherit the world, so we must be well equipped for them to be good stewards of our environment. “