Prudential Singapore has extended its collaboration with the Early Childhood Development Agency since its first partnership in November last year which benefited 800 families. Healthy with KidSTART is a nutrition programme for young children. The KidSTART programme provides child development, health and support to low-income families with children below the age of seven.
In November last year, 800 families received a care pack of healthy food items including food for babies and pre-school aged children such as multi-grain baby puffs, multi-vitamins and milk. 120 of them with more food security needs got an additional supply of fresh produce for three months between October and December 2020.
This year, some 1,300 families have been benefitting from the programme by receiving fresh produce and resources for healthy eating since 11 May 2021. Each care pack contains fresh fruits and vegetables. There is also a recipe card prepared by Charlotte Mei who is a Singapore Nutrition and Dietetics Association accredited nutritionist. The recipe card provides instructions to prepare simple, cost-effective and healthy meals using ingredients included in the pack. Prudential employees and financial consultants have volunteered to assemble and distribute the care packs.
Each family is receiving a “Healthy Plate” to help them prepare a well-balanced meal. These plates are developed and produced in consultation with KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital and KidSTART. They are modelled after the Health Promotion Board‘s “My Healthy Plate” which serves as a guide for a healthier and well-balanced diet with the ideal proportion of carbohydrates, proteins, vegetables and fruits in a meal. A total of 2,000 plates will be distributed by the end of the year, with each child in the programme receiving a plate.
Charlotte Mei will be conducting a series of online workshops throughout the year for the families and volunteers, providing continuous guidance on healthy cooking and eating.
“We want to see families with young children adopt healthy lifestyles as early as possible, and Healthy with KidSTART brings this vision to life. Parents are taught the basics of nutrition and given the resources to make healthy living a reality for their families. By driving greater awareness around the importance of early childhood nutrition and healthy eating, we can help bridge the ‘health gap’ in our community”
Mr Dennis Tan, CEO of Prudential Singapore
How Can I Volunteer for the KidSTART Programme
For individuals who would like to contribute to the KidSTART programme, there are opportunities to volunteer or raise funds and awareness. As part of the Growing Together with KidSTART initiative, volunteers are needed to help with outreach efforts. The target is to serve 5,000 children by the end of 2022.
You can also be a befriender to families by providing practical and emotional support, including child-minding or accompanying family members to the clinic and assisting the KidSTART worker in the preparation and execution of the KidSTART programmes. Befrienders and Outreach volunteers will undergo a 2.5 hours training session before they are deployed.
Share the cause and help raise funds for families. You can start an initiative in your school, workplace or community.
Prudential Singapore’s CSR Activities
Besides supporting the Healthy with KidSTART programme, Prudential Singapore channels its efforts into supporting two other community causes. They include financial literacy for children and vulnerable seniors.
| Early childhood care and development | Partnership with KidSTART to launch the “Healthy with KidSTART” nutrition programme that promotes the importance of early childhood care and development among low-income families. |
| Financial literacy for children | Prudence Foundation has partnered with Cartoon Network Asia and renowned children’s education specialist Dr Alice Wilder to launch an award-winning financial literacy programme. Cha-Ching instils good financial habits and promotes financial responsibility in children. Each Cha-Ching video uses best practices in learning theory to help children learn through songs and real-life scenarios on the topics of Earn, Save, Spend and Donate. The Cha-Ching Curriculum, created in partnership with JA Asia Pacific, is taught across Asia and Africa, reaching over 600,000 students to date. Volunteers from Prudential Singapore are trained by JA Singapore to deliver the Cha-Ching Curriculum to children from community partners and recruited through JA Singapore’s school network and partners. |
| Vulnerable seniors | Prudential works with community partners to engage and help vulnerable seniors be physically and mentally healthier. In 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic, Prudential Singapore’s volunteers started virtual exercise and engagement sessions for seniors. Volunteers also participated in the Infocomm Media Development Authority’s Digital Learning Circles programme. 224 hours were spent teaching seniors to use mobile applications. These include the contact tracing feature of TraceTogether, setting up an email account and using video conferencing tools online. Over 300 hours have been spent engaging with community partners including AMKFSC Community Services Ltd, GoodLife! Marine Parade and Thong Teck Home for Senior Citizens. |
In 2020, Prudential Singapore received honours for the efforts including the Lakeside Family Services Community Partnership Award, National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre Champion of Good award and Community Chest Charity Bronze and Community Spirit Gold Awards.
Last year Prudential played an active role in supporting Covid-19 relief efforts last year with PRUcare package, giving out close to S$3.5 million in cash benefits and donations to more than 3,400 individuals and the community. This is more than double the S$1.5 million committed when Prudential first launched the PRUCare Package at the onset of the pandemic.
In all, Prudential’s volunteers spent over 6,800 volunteering and training hours enriching the lives of over 9,000 beneficiaries last year.
