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- Participants across different cities surpass collective target of 100,000 km amid challenging year for charitable fundraising
- President Halimah Yacob witnesses presentation of cheque for $3.63 million to SGX Bull Charge beneficiaries
The SGX Bull Charge community has gone the extra mile for beneficiaries in the Virtual Charity Run, clocking over 150,000 km to surpass its collective target of 100,000 km. With the support of corporate sponsors and individual donors, the flagship charity initiative of Singapore Exchange (SGX) raised $3.63 million amid a challenging year for charitable fundraising.
At a ceremony at SGX Centre today, Guest-of-Honour President Halimah Yacob witnessed the cheque presentation to Community Chest, through which all proceeds would be channelled to the adopted beneficiaries for 2020: AWWA Ltd., Autism Association (Singapore), Fei Yue Community Services, HCSA Community Services and Shared Services for Charities.
SGX Bull Charge this year transformed its 17th annual Charity Run into a two-week virtual fundraiser. The event kicked off on 30 October with Team Singapore Olympian Joscelin Yeo joining 44 CEOs and chiefs of companies in the 3 km virtual Chief Challenge, which was flagged off by C. Kunalan and Team Singapore Paralympian Theresa Goh. Over 5,000 participants in the virtual Mass Run each ran at their own pace and space across different cities, including ultramarathoner Stephen Lim who topped the individual leaderboard with 800 km.
Corporate sponsors led the fundraising, supported by participants in various events including SGX’s Commodities Unplugged webinar series in May-June and Technology Symposium in November, alongside SGX staff and members of the public. SGX, which donated S$1.5 million including matching contributions dollar-for-dollar, will commit an additional 1,000 volunteer hours to charity in appreciation of the strong support from its community for the run.
Mr. Loh Boon Chye, Chief Executive Officer of SGX, said, “We are delighted to have President Halimah Yacob grace this occasion as we celebrate a successful year of supporting our beneficiaries. While it remains a challenging environment for charitable fundraising, we deeply appreciate the support of our global community as we find new ways to assist and care for those who need help the most. We look forward to going the extra mile together.”
SGX Bull Charge is the only corporate charity initiative that rallies Singapore’s financial community and listed companies to support the needs of underprivileged children and families, persons with disabilities, as well as the elderly. Since 2004, it has raised S$42.6 million for more than 50 charities, helping beneficiaries lead a more positive, meaningful and comfortable life. In March, SGX introduced a S$5 million SGX Care Package that included funds to cover beneficiaries for expenses such as the purchase of thermal scanners, surgical masks, hand sanitisers and disinfectants.
