996. National Family Celebrations, 2012 Singapore

Singapore has many organisations promoting family bonding and work-life balances nowadays. That means a 5-day week, high pay and generous leave of up to 4 months in the case of maternity entitlement.

Unfortunately, the cost of living keeps shooting up due to many government's policies and so it is quite rough on the younger generation. Take the COE (Certificate of Entitlement) to buy a new car policy. Now, it is bidded at around S$50,000 and will shoot up further.

For example, in Perth in the same period of time, a young man or woman undergraduate can buy a car for S$5,000 and be mobile. I know of a young lady vet who has now graduated. She bought an older car with a clicking noise whenever she changed gears. I was worried for her as I wondered whether the constant clicking would cause sparks and set fire to her car. But she was OK with this. It was around $500 and here in Singapore, $500 may buy you a car tire.

Therefore in Singapore, after the vet graduated from Australia and comes to work at home in Singapore, he must pay around $50,000 to buy a decent 10-year-old car.

Back to the National Family Celebrations 2012, I got an email as follows:

  

E-MAIL TO DR SING DATED MAY 7, 2012

Dear Businesses for Families Pledgers

CALL TO SUPPORT NATIONAL FAMILY CELEBRATIONS 2012

The National Family Celebrations is an annual month-long event that seeks to promote, strengthen and celebrate families.  It is organised by the National Family Council (NFC), a people sector-led committee that aims to build resilient families in Singapore, with strong support from the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS).

2              Running strong for the 27th year, National Family Celebrations has been an iconic national event earmarked by many families in Singapore. Last year, National Family Celebrations (NFC’11) adopted the theme “Connecting Youths with Their Family”.  It aimed to engage the youths and inculcate a family first mindset among them.  NFC’11 was a big draw to families, with active participation of over 400,000 people at 330 ground events organised by our partners throughout the month-long celebrations. 

3              This year, NFC’12 will be held from 25 May (Friday) to 23 June (Saturday) 2012. With the theme “Family Time Odyssey: Past. Present. Future”, NFC’12 boasts a strong line up of interesting activities for families. Details of the Celebrations are at Annex 1.

4              It is our pleasure to invite your business to participate in this year’s Celebrations. We believe that this will offer an excellent opportunity for your organisation to strengthen your branding and extend your outreach, while joining a meaningful cause of promoting strong families in Singapore.  As part of our Businesses for Families Community, we strongly encourage you to offer special discounts, promotions and packages for families (two or three generational families) during NFC’12. If you have any existing family discounts or promotions that coincide with the Celebrations period, do let us know. We will be happy to include them.

5              Please let us have the details of your family discounts and promotions (offered during the celebration period) at Annex 2 by 18 May 2012 (Friday). We will help publicise them in two websites: www.nfc.sg (National Family Celebrations) and www.bfc.sg (Businesses for Families Council). To submit your offers or for more information, you may contact:

Mr Mervyn Seah
Secretariat, Businesses for Families Council
E-mail: mervyn_seah@mcys.gov.sg
Fax: 6354 9868
Tel:  6354 9847

6              As our valued partners, we hope that you can support us in this meaningful cause, as we promote family values and strengthen families in Singapore. We look forward to your favourable reply.

                Thank you!


E-MAIL FROM DR SING DATED MAY 11, 2012

I am Dr Sing from Toa Payoh Vets. Family pets are family members for all Singaporeans. Health screening of the older pets over 2 years is important. I have offered a 10% discount on blood test for the family dog or cat for the 2 months, May 25 to July 28, 2012, as attached in your Annex 2. Pl phone me at 9668 6468 for more info. Thank you.


E-MAIL TO DR SING DATED MAY 11, 2012

Hi Dr Sing

Thank you very much for your kind support in NFC.

To make the offer more family targeted, we suggest adding the following terms and conditions:
“Discount is only applicable when families of at least 2 generations are present”
For your approval please.

Please also kindly provide your business logo for us to attach the offer under.

Thank you.



Best Regards
Mervyn Seah (Mr) / Businesses for Families Council

Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports

| DID: (65) 6354 9847 | Fax: (65) 6354 9868 | Website: www.mcys.gov.sg / http://www.bfc.sg


E-MAIL FROM DR SING DATED MAY 14, 2012

It is not practical to insist on 2 generations to be present because most pet owners do not have cars or spaces to bring their 2 generations to see a vet. Usually it is the parent and the younger children.
Logo is attached:


Pl let me know if you have published any of my offers. Thank you.