Page 8 - MENDAKI Annual Report 2020

5 CEO’S REFLECTION Enhancing the the Community’s Resilience Together 2020 is a a a a a year year like we have never seen before An unprecedented year year year it will be be be remembered as the the year year COVID-19 took over our lives impacting the the the way we live live work and play I I I had just joined MENDAKI taking over the the the helm from my predecessor Two days into the the job Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced that Singapore will go into lockdown and the Circuit Breaker measures imposed Fortunately MENDAKI was ready We put in in in in place the the Business Continuity Plan providing staff with the the the necessary support and resources to work remotely Of bigger concern was the the the impact on on our our beneficiaries and the the Malay/Muslim community in general As part of the the SGTeguhBersatu Taskforce MENDAKI had the the the opportunity to work alongside other organisations leveraging on on on our our our strengths and resources to to extend support to to to our our our our community In all MENDAKI disbursed approximately $1 9 million to to support our our students and families who were affected by the the impact of COVID-19 Among others this went towards purchasing laptops to to to to to be loaned to to to to to students who lack digital devices to to to to do home-based learning provision of of an an interim allowance for students at at the the Institute of of Technical Education who who lost their part-time jobs or whose family’s household income was affected and extension of additional loans to final-year students who were pursuing their degrees overseas In all we we assisted more than 1 000 students and families across the the various assistance schemes Our staff also worked tirelessly to to engage our beneficiaries This is is part of MENDAKI’s efforts to to ensure that families affected by the pandemic are assisted and supported MENDAKI ANNUAL REPORT 2020