“When God blesses you financially, don’t raise your standard of living. Raise your standard of giving.”
“If you are more fortunate than others, build a longer table, not a taller fence.”
These will remain nice sayings unless you actually do something about them.
There are 323,000 low-wage migrant workers in Singapore, who take on jobs shunned by Singaporeans in industries such as construction, estate maintenance and manufacturing.
In the words of Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam, it is possible for 57% of Singaporeans to be professionals, managers, executives and technicians, or PMETs, because migrant workers form the base of the economy.
They, therefore, help build Singapore’s prosperity and should be better appreciated, he said.
The Singapore government has just given everyone S$600/-. If being 600 bucks richer is important to you, then keep your money, if not, please consider offering a helping hand to our migrant workers by making a donation to MEANS (Migrants Emergency Assistance and Support) Community Impact Fund. Click here.
This Community Impact Fund is an initiative of The Community Foundation of Singapore, a non-profit organization founded in 2008 to encourage and enable philanthropy in Singapore. It matches donors’ interest with causes and offers ways for them to make a greater impact through their charitable funds. It also collaborates with charity partners to identify programs that support diverse communities. Its purpose is to create real and meaningful change while building a philanthropic culture in Singapore. CFS is a registered charity with Institution of a Public Character status.
Many migrant workers communicate with their loved ones back home using text messages. If you want to make a donation to top up migrant workers’ pre-paid SIM cards, click here.
Where do these migrant workers stay? Their accommodation includes 43 mega-dormitories with more than 1,000 workers each, some 1,200 factory-converted dormitories which typically house 50 to 100 workers each, and temporary living quarters with around 40 workers on various construction sites. Due to COVID-19, there are now some changes to their accommodation. To curb transmissions, authorities have shifted about 7,000 migrant workers who were found to be free of the virus to other housing facilities.