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Straits Times
02-08-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
BookTalk: Former CEO of NVPC Melissa Kwee must have books around at all times
Who: Ms Melissa Kwee, 53, was the former chief executive of the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NVPC) from 2014 to 2022. With her at the helm, NVPC established donation platform which has raised hundreds of millions of dollars for various causes. It received a record $95.5 million in 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic. Since stepping down, she has established neighbourhood group Queenstown Kakis, which organises activities at coffee shops like hongbao-craft sessions during Chinese New Year so people can form organic connections. There is now a community calendar that involves people who live in the area.
AsiaOne
30-07-2025
- General
- AsiaOne
Tanjong Katong sinkhole: ItsRainingRaincoats raises $72,000 within 2 days for migrant workers who rescued woman, Singapore News
A local charity has raised a five-digit sum to show its appreciation to the migrant workers who helped to rescue the driver of the car which fell into the Tanjong Katong sinkhole. The fundraising campaign by ItsRainingRaincoats on which started on Monday (July 28), saw more than $24,000 raised within 24 hours. More than $72,000 have been raised from over 1,600 donors as of Wednesday afternoon. Founded by lawyer Dipa Swaminathan in 2015, the charity said that the campaign is its way of saying "thank you" to the workers. At about 5pm on Saturday, a stretch of road along Tanjong Katong Road South collapsed, causing a vehicle to plunge into the hole. A group of workers, led by 47-year-old construction site foreman Pitchai Udaiyappan Subbiah, used a nylon rope to pull a woman out of the sinkhole within five minutes. In a message on its fundraising campaign website, ItsRainingRaincoats said the migrant workers acted "with speed, bravery, and remarkable selflessness", and "their bravery touched a nation". "If we can't give them medals, we can still give them dignity," the local charity added. "This campaign is our way — your way — of saying thank you". AsiaOne has contacted ItsRainingRaincoats for comment. On Wednesday, the seven migrant workers involved in the rescue effort were presented with a token of appreciation from the Ministry of Manpower. Subbiah, as well as Velmurugan Muthusamy, Poomalai Saravanan, Ganesan Veerasekar, Bose Ajithkumar, Narayanasamy Mayakrishnan and Sathapillai Rajendran, each received a Friends of Ace coin from Minister of State for Manpower Dinesh Vasu Dash. Dinesh said that coin, which he described as a small token of appreciation, "goes a long way" in recognising the efforts of migrant workers. "I think this is a very good example of how our migrant workers help society in general," added Dinesh, who is also an MP for East Coast GRC and Mayor of Southeast District. "Not only do they work at the worksites and build Singapore, especially in the construction sector, but they also step forward and make themselves counted when it's important for them to do so." [[nid:720742]] chingshiie@
