SINGAPORE — The 2023 SGX Cares Bull Charge raised a total of S$2,538,888 during its various fundraising activities this year, which culminated with its SGX Cares Bull Charge Charity Run that was held at the Marina Barrage for the first time.
The Charity Run took place a week ago with guest-of-honour Minister of State for Social and Family Development Sun Xueling flagging off the run which featured two race categories, the 3km Chief Challenge involving CEOs and chiefs of companies and the 5km mass run for other participants.
In the Charity Run’s 3km Chief Challenge, Jens Olav Graver from Yinson Production Offshore Pte Ltd came in first place with a time of 11 mins 31 secs. Eik Sheng Kwek from City Development Limited is in second spot with a time of 11 mins and 41 sec, while Geok Wah Siah from Bank of America is in third place (12 mins 25 sec). Below are the results for the Charity Run’s 5km Mass Run.
Mass Run (5km)
Top 3 female runners: 1st – Angela Hu (21 mins 31 sec), 2nd – Wang Yan (23 mins 6 sec), 3rd – Maria Ho (23 mins 32 sec)
Top 3 male runners: 1st– Giebert Foo (18 mins 45 sec), 2nd – Laurence Kearney (19 mins 40 sec), 3rd – Rey Po (20 mins 9 sec)
Loh Boon Chye, Chief Executive Officer, SGX Group expressed his deepest appreciation to the donors and everyone who has shown their support throughout this year’s SGX Cares Bull Charge various fundraising events.
“It is remarkable how we have progressed from a charity run in the Central Business District to a sizeable collaborative initiative encompassing fundraising, outreach and financial literacy – demonstrating how ‘Better Happens Together’ when everyone puts their minds and hearts into something unique like SGX Cares. We are deeply grateful to all our corporate partners and volunteers for their tremendous contributions over the years, which have made a significant impact on the lives of our beneficiaries since 2004. We look forward to empowering our community for many more years, with even greater purpose and impact,” said SGX’s CEO Loh.
The 2023 SGX Cares teed off with a charity golf fundraising on Sep 7 which brought together close to 150 golfers and guests at the Sentosa Golf Club’s Serapong course after a three-year hiatus. The first charity event raised a total of S$218,888 in support of underprivileged children and families, persons with disabilities and the elderly.
“This year marks SGX Cares Bull Charge’s 20th anniversary. It is a significant achievement to have raised almost S$48 million to support our communities since 2004. This is only possible because of the strong commitment and contributions from our partners and sponsors. We are very grateful to our sponsors who have journeyed with us through the years, including Bank of America who has been a Bull Charge supporter from day one.” said Pol de Win, SGX Cares Bull Charge Organising Chairperson and Head of Global Sales & Origination, SGX Group, after the first fundraising event.
The second fundraising event is the SGX Cares Bull Charge Charity Futsal which raised close to $132,000 on Sep 30. It saw the support of former Singapore national footballers such as Aide Iskandar, Lionel Lewis, Aleksandar Duric and Malek Awab. Team Singapore Jiu-Jitsu athlete Fiona Toh also took part in the futsal competition and won the women’s open category with her team.
“SGX once again had invited the former Singapore players to compete and also to conduct a football clinic for the charitable organisation. We as former players felt privileged and encouraged to give back to the community and this was one way we could do it. Thanks to SGX for an amazing event and it was a great experience for us,” shared former Singapore national captain Aide to The Independent Singapore after the Charity Futsal event.
Proceeds from fundraising activities throughout the year are channelled via Community Chest to AWWA Ltd, Autism Association (Singapore), Fei Yue Community Services, HSCA Community Services and Shared Services for Charities.
Launched in 2004, SGX Cares is the only corporate charity initiative in Singapore that brings together the financial community and SGX-listed companies to support the needs of underprivileged children and families, persons with disabilities, as well as the elderly. Over S$50 million has been raised over two decades for more than 50 charities and a variety of causes, through the support of corporate sponsors and partners.