When Mira Lim’s parents could only find pricey masks for their three-year-old child headed to pre-school, they wondered how needy parents would be able to afford multiple masks for their children, as younger kids tend to go through more than one a day.
Children aged two and above must wear masks or face shields in public.
Ms Tracy Tan and her husband, Mr Lim Hao, decided they had to do something. That sparked the idea for Howdy Gives, an initiative to sew and distribute hundreds of child-size masks to those in need. It is named after Howdyman, the handyman business the couple run.
While the pandemic has left parents scrambling to juggle working from home with childcare duties and home-based learning, it has also galvanised some families to reach out to the wider community.
Some have raised funds, while others have formed groups to match families needing help with those looking to render it.
Ms Tan and Mr Lim started a Facebook group on 25 May for their project, with an initial target to distribute 500 kids’ masks.
Within 10 days, they had gotten more than 600 requests. Howdy Gives has distributed about 200 masks so far.
The group has 15 volunteers and counting, with the majority sewing masks from materials on which the couple spent about $500 of their own money.
Similarly, other families started giving back when they saw how the pandemic had impacted their own family members.
Madam Ng Cheng Choon and her husband, Mr Steven Lee, who own textile manufacturing business Rengitex, decided to heed the Government’s call to develop local capabilities in mask manufacturing.
Their desire to help resulted in 1929 Mask, an offshoot company helmed by their younger son, Mr Keenon Lee.
For every two masks sold online, the family donates one to the Migrant Workers’ Centre or to vulnerable elderly through Lions Clubs of Singapore.
They have given out some 4,000 masks so far and donated water-repellent fabric for hijabs to a hospital in Malaysia, where their factory is based.
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Source: The Straits Times, 7 June 2020