Source : Straits Times – 18 Jul 2009
MALLS are increasingly getting into action for charitable causes, to help the less fortunate and engage their shoppers.
At least five mall operators and retail groups have recently put in place community initiatives. They say that through such community projects, they can play their role as responsible corporate citizens by helping the less-privileged, and also bond with their shoppers.
New mall Tampines 1, for instance, will raise money today for the Operation Hope Foundation, a Singapore-based charity which helps orphans and the poor in Third World countries. It will collect $5 from each shopper that attends its ‘Swop Party’ – where participants bring along five or more fashion items for swopping with others. Each item gets the shopper a token that can be exchanged for others’ items.
Proceeds from the entry fees, and from items sold for $5 to those who have run out of tokens, will go to the charity.
AsiaMalls Management, which runs Tampines 1, wanted ‘a more meaningful way’ of marking the mall’s opening by raising funds for charity, said the company’s general manager Stephanie Ho.
VivoCity provides a venue at a nominal charge for the needy and disabled to sell art and craft works twice a month.
The former Paradiz Centre, now known as PoMo, reached out to its young neighbourhood – comprising art institutions like the School of the Arts and the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts – by holding a sculpture- design contest with a $10,000 grant for the winner, and by providing a platform for budding musicians to showcase their talents.Centre managerJess Neo said: ‘It is in our interest to ensure that we continually engage the community through a variety of activities.’
On Thursday, the philanthropic arm of CapitaLand, the CapitaLand Hope Foundation (CHF), gave $1 million raised through its year-long recycling campaign to needy students from more than 150 primary schools. Last month, its staff took 200 children from Care Corner Singapore shopping for school necessities, using CHF vouchers.
Dairy Farm Singapore will launch its community campaign today which includes a step-aerobics session where the total number of steps taken by participants will translate into free bags of basic essentials for the needy from Dairy Farm.
Singapore Retailers Association executive director Lau Chuen Wei said that supporting charity can create a positive brand for a mall and show that ‘it’s not there solely for commercial gain’. She pointed out that the higher traffic to such events may not even necessarily bring higher sales, since genuine shoppers may be turned off by the crowds.
Consumers like marketing executive Gillian Khoo, 23, are glad shopping centres are giving back to society. She said: ‘Everyone benefits. The malls get to attract people, especially those who are conscious of social responsibility, the unfortunate get help, and shoppers like me get to do something fun and meaningful.’
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