Stronger Together

The DBS Stronger Together Fund is an SGD 10.5 million fund set up by DBS to help communities hard hit by Covid-19 across the region. With this fund, we will provide about 4.5 million meals and care packs to those affected. We will also fund the procurement of diagnostic test kits, personal protective equipment and other medical supplies to help in the fight against Covid-19.

Supporting hard-hit communities

As the battle against Covid-19 continues, various groups of people within our communities are facing enormous needs. In countries like India and Indonesia, an acute shortage of medical supplies including test kits is forcing healthcare workers to fight Covid-19 blind. In other countries, livelihoods have been impacted, and pockets of people are going hungry.

We want to do our part to help those in need. We believe that by standing together, we can overcome this crisis and emerge stronger.

Singapore

The pandemic has exacerbated the need for food and daily essentials among segments in Singapore. To help, we are partnering non-profit organisations The Food Bank Singapore and ItsRainingRaincoats to distribute up to 700,000 meals to the elderly, low-income and migrant worker communities.

As a start, we will fund 15 F&B clients – as part of our support for this sector – to provide 200,000 meals for the elderly and low-income communities. The Food Bank Singapore will then distribute these meals via its “Feed the City” programme.

The 15 F&B clients providing meals are:

To feed the migrant workers in Singapore, we will fund 100,000 meals through "Project Belanja".

Staff contributions will also be matched, meal for meal.

Join us in supporting those in need

You can play a part too, by sponsoring a meal! We will match dollar-for-dollar public funds raised for the two food distribution programmes, up to a total of SGD 500,000.

To donate towards meals for the elderly and low-income:
Feed the City - DBS Edition

To donate towards meals for migrant workers:
Project Belanja - DBS Edition

In total, SGD 2.5 million from the fund will go towards providing these meals.

Said Ms Nichol Ng, co-founder of The Food Bank Singapore, “The Covid-19 situation has largely affected our ability to reach out to the beneficiaries as we are running low on food and funds. As their level of food supply has dropped, we have also noted more requests from beneficiaries as they are unable to put food on the table during these uncertain times. Through DBS’ support, we can continue to run our ‘Feed the City’ programme, and to meet the basic needs of those affected.”

Said Dipa Swaminathan, founder of ItsRainingRaincoats, “There are close to 750,000 migrant workers in Singapore and only a fraction of those are in the gazetted dorms. Many workers who are lodged elsewhere continue to need assistance with food during this time for various reasons ... Our team of volunteers has been working around the clock to support any such worker who appeals to us in hunger through Project Belanja. We are hugely fortified in this battle now with the added support of DBS and confident that together we will help our workers and in doing so, help our entire community overcome this crisis.”

Find out more about our other Covid-19 relief measures for our customers in Singapore here.

Hong Kong

There are about 1.2 million people in Hong Kong aged 65 or above. Close to half (44%) live in poverty before policy intervention.

To help the elderly and at-risk groups, including low-income families, we will work with local charities Senior Citizen Home Safety Association and Foodlink Foundation, and social enterprise Agent of Change, to provide more than 30,000 care and food packs.

Our resources will also enable the Senior Citizen Home Safety Association to increase its Care-on-Call services by more than 20,000 service sessions, to better address the emotional and physical well-being of the elderly, who may face greater isolation or mobility challenges amid the outbreak.

China

While the early lockdown in China has been effective in arresting the spread of Covid-19, this had implications for senior citizens, especially those living alone or facing financial difficulties. The temporary closure of factories and workplaces further impacted low-income migrant workers and raised concerns over job security and access to daily necessities, such as food.

To help alleviate this, we are partnering Non-Profit Incubator (NPI), Green Food Bank and others to launch a “Food for Care” programme.

This will provide about 1.7 million meals to affected communities over the next 12 months. More than 50,000 low-income individuals will also receive support including personal hygiene kits and re-employment training.

India

Test kits, protective gear for healthcare workers are in short supply in India, along with critical facilities and equipment.

We are partnering UNICEF, United Way, Metropolis Labs and others to scale up public health infrastructure, provide medical supplies and equipment, and sponsor free testing for the underprivileged.

We will also be providing the equivalent of two million meals, in the form of food supplies and pre-packaged meals, to communities affected by the pandemic, in partnership with organisations such as Pratham, Akshaya Patra and United Way.

Indonesia

The World Bank has estimated that the pandemic will throw millions of people in Indonesia into poverty. As of 7 April 2020, more than 1.2 million people have lost their jobs or income due to being placed on furlough.

We will therefore partner with NGOs to provide about 275,000 meals to 11,500 daily wage workers in Jakarta, its surrounding areas, as well as West Java.

To help address the acute shortage of Covid-19 test kits, we will donate 100,000 units of a rapid test kit, polymerase chain reaction machines and other medical supplies to the Government of Indonesia.

Taiwan

While the pandemic is comparatively well controlled in Taiwan, older people who live alone in rural areas are going hungry, as they are unable to go to community centres to have group meals provided by NPOs/NGOs. The food delivery system has also been affected by the pandemic. Many people have lost their jobs.

We plan to donate 45,000 food packs to those in need. The food packs contain rice, noodles, fish floss, corn crackers and hand sanitisers. All products are purchased from social enterprises.