The seventh edition of Singapore’s biggest executive fundraiser ‘Football With A Heart’ returns after three years, raising a record-breaking amount of $1,051,000 with the Tote Board matching dollar-for-dollar donations.
This year’s event, co-organised by Singapore Pools (Private) Limited, Football Association of Singapore and Sport Singapore, was held at Our Tampines Hub and graced by Tan Chuan-Jin, speaker of parliament.
Inaugurated in 2012, Football With A Heart is Singapore’s first and only executive football charity fund-raiser set up as a partnership between the private and public sectors to raise much-needed funds for the disadvantaged.
It has since raised more than $5 million for 45 unique charities and social enterprises. The 2022 beneficiaries are FAS Cares, Filos Community Services Ltd, GreenSG Collab Ltd., Heartware Network, iShine Cloud Limited and SportCares.
“It is with this unyielding commitment from all our partners and sponsors that we are able to exceed our fundraising target, garnering over $1 million in donations for the selected beneficiaries in areas such as sports, youth development, sustainability, strengthening family and community bonds, and enabling the charity sector.” said Singapore Pools’ chief executive officer, Lam Chee Weng.
On how the funds raised will benefit its beneficiaries, Dr. Foo Fung Fong, executive director of Filos Community Services said, “Filos works towards building resilience in our families and empowering the children and youth through academic support and enrichment programmes. Your $50 goes a long way in supporting a child through monthly tuition, and $250 assists a needy family with their daily necessities for three months.”
Besides the 40 corporate teams pitting their skills against each other, there were special appearances by members of parliament such as Seah Kian Peng, Fahmi Aliman, Edward Chia, Sharael Taha.
They were joined by local artistes like Li Nanxing, Shane Pow, Kok Wei Le, Ian Fang and Ke Le, and the cast of Ah Girls Go Army. Also taking part in the celebrity tournament are former Singapore international footballers such as Noor Ali, Lim Tong Hai, and Malek Awab.
“Joined my parliamentary colleagues for the 7th edition of the Football with a Heart project. Many parliamentarians were unable to join in for various reasons and so we supplemented the team with some parliamentary staff. More importantly, congrats to Singapore Pools, FAS and Sports SG for organising and raising over $1m to help various charities. I think I have taken part in all the FWAH events and hope to continue to do so in the years ahead,” posted Seah on his Facebook page. /TISG