ITE Students Multiply Seed Funding by 45-Fold to over $72,000

Four ITE College West students grew their seed funding of $1,600 from Citi-YMCA Youth For Causes (YFC) by 45-fold to over $72,000, all to help underprivileged children and elderly from Canossaville Children & Community Services (CCCS).

It is yet another new milestone record for the team, who has been participating in Citi-YMCA YFC since 2013. Their achievement is a proud testament to the hard work of the students and teachers of ITE College West, as well as the staff from CCCS.

Known as Team Edutomahawk, the team received the YFC Distinction and YFC Best Fundraiser awards at the Citi‐YMCA YFC Awards Celebration on 16 November 2018 at YMCA of Singapore. The event was graced by Guest-of-Honour Mr Lim Boon Heng, Chairman of Temasek Holdings. Mr Lim was recently appointed as Chairman of YMCA’s Advisory Council.

Citi-YMCA Youth For Causes (YFC) is a community initiative started by Citi and the YMCA of Singapore in 2003. Funded by Citi Foundation, the programme is a catalyst to promote social entrepreneurship and community leadership development among Singapore youths.

This year, Team Edutomahawk raised funds for CCCS by selling tote bags printed with the words ‘Faith’, ‘Hope’, ‘Joy’ and ‘Love’ as well as drawings done by the children of CCCS. The team hopes to spread the values of “faith, hope, joy and love” to members of the public, while enabling them to gain a deeper awareness and understanding of CCCS’ work.

Through their fundraising efforts, they mobilised over 200 volunteers and reached out to over 130,000 members of the public.

“In spite of the challenges faced by my team, the children from CCCS were our motivation to press on,’ said Josh Ang, team leader of Team Edutomahawk. “When my team visited the children and saw how jovial and bubbly they were in spite of their circumstances, we told ourselves that we have to put in our 101% for them.”

Now in its 16th year running, this year’s Citi‐YMCA YFC programme received a total of 117 proposal submissions, and the top 100 teams were shortlisted to champion the social causes of 42 social service organisations (SSOs) of their choice.

“Our youths are the future building blocks towards shaping a better, kinder society,” said Mr Steven Loh, General Secretary & CEO of YMCA of Singapore. “By challenging them to step up and serve through fundraising for a social cause, YMCA aims to strengthen their sense of ownership and responsibility in giving back to the community.”

“It is inspiring to see young people identify a social cause that resonates with them and step up to support that cause through Citi-YMCA YFC,” said Mr Adam Rahman, Head of Corporate Affairs, Citi Singapore and ASEAN. “I hope that through and beyond this, they will continue to serve the community in other meaningful and impactful ways.”

Find out more about Citi-YMCA Youth For Causes: http://youthforcauses.com/