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Coffeeshop Chit Chat - MP Irene Ng Sell Donated Items </TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right>
Subscribe </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=msgtable cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="96%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=msg vAlign=top><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgbfr1 width="1%"> </TD><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgF noWrap align=right width="1%">From: </TD><TD class=msgFname noWrap width="68%">SGNEWSALTE <NOBR></NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate noWrap align=right width="30%">9:13 am </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT noWrap align=right width="1%" height=20>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname noWrap width="68%">ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 2) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft width="1%" rowSpan=4> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>3850.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt>MP Irene Ng takes donated items from residents, and sell them to housewives who retail them at their pasar malam stalls.
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_314322.html
HOUSEWIFE Jamaliah Jaafar was traumatised when her husband lost his $1,200 a month clerical job last year.
With hardly any savings and a eight-year-old daughter to support, the 49-year-old was getting increasingly frantic by the day and sought her Member of Parliament (MP) for help.
And for the last few months, she has been hawking second-hand goods, such as books and toys, each Sunday at the Tampines Changkat Sunday Market at Tampines Street 11.
Madam Jamaliah says she can earn, on average, $30 to $40 a day, enough to put food on the family's table for a few days.
She is one of 12 poor housewives currently on a scheme to help them peddle wares at the Sunday market to earn some extra cash.
MP Irene Ng, who launched the scheme on Sunday, said many of these women were those who had asked her for financial aid at the Meet-the-People sessions.
'Besides helping them with financial assistance, I would also encourage them to take up stalls at our Sunday market,' she said. 'But their frequent reply was, they don't know what to sell or don't know where to go to source for good.
'They don't have connections, and very often, the confidence to start something new.'
Hence, the Tampines Changkat Women's Executive Committee (WEC) went about sourcing for donated items and passing them onto these women for them to sell at the Sunday market, which has over 100 stalls peddling household items and other goods on Sundays.
The women, some who are single mothers, get to keep any profits and pay a token sum for the donated items they sell, said Ms Tai Meei Huey from the WEC.
She explained why a token sum is necessary: 'We used to give them the donated goods free, but some don't even bother to set up a stall to sell them.'
Madam Jamaliah, whose husband now has a part-time job at a mosque with a daily wage of $20, said: 'I'm very grateful for the chance to set up a stall here.
'Who knows, maybe next time I can start my own business?'
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http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_314322.html
HOUSEWIFE Jamaliah Jaafar was traumatised when her husband lost his $1,200 a month clerical job last year.
With hardly any savings and a eight-year-old daughter to support, the 49-year-old was getting increasingly frantic by the day and sought her Member of Parliament (MP) for help.
And for the last few months, she has been hawking second-hand goods, such as books and toys, each Sunday at the Tampines Changkat Sunday Market at Tampines Street 11.
Madam Jamaliah says she can earn, on average, $30 to $40 a day, enough to put food on the family's table for a few days.
She is one of 12 poor housewives currently on a scheme to help them peddle wares at the Sunday market to earn some extra cash.
MP Irene Ng, who launched the scheme on Sunday, said many of these women were those who had asked her for financial aid at the Meet-the-People sessions.
'Besides helping them with financial assistance, I would also encourage them to take up stalls at our Sunday market,' she said. 'But their frequent reply was, they don't know what to sell or don't know where to go to source for good.
'They don't have connections, and very often, the confidence to start something new.'
Hence, the Tampines Changkat Women's Executive Committee (WEC) went about sourcing for donated items and passing them onto these women for them to sell at the Sunday market, which has over 100 stalls peddling household items and other goods on Sundays.
The women, some who are single mothers, get to keep any profits and pay a token sum for the donated items they sell, said Ms Tai Meei Huey from the WEC.
She explained why a token sum is necessary: 'We used to give them the donated goods free, but some don't even bother to set up a stall to sell them.'
Madam Jamaliah, whose husband now has a part-time job at a mosque with a daily wage of $20, said: 'I'm very grateful for the chance to set up a stall here.
'Who knows, maybe next time I can start my own business?'
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