Singapore national athletes donate sports apparel to refugees in Nepal

Singapore, Friday, March 2, 2012 — DHL Express has partnered the Singapore National Olympic Committee (SNOC) for the second successive Olympic Games to deliver sports apparel donated by Singapore’s national athletes to 60,000 refugees from Bhutan in Nepal.

The Giving is Winning program is a joint effort by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to encourage athletes and officials to donate their clothing to refugee camps worldwide. As the Logistics Partner of the program in Singapore, DHL Express Singapore is responsible for delivering these donations, totaling 770 kilograms to Nepal.

DHL, together with SNOC held a simple but symbolic ceremony at DHL’s eXpo Service Center to mark this important day. Gracing the event were representatives from the SNOC including Mr Ng Ser Miang, Vice President of the International Olympic Committee and the Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC), Dr Tan Eng Liang, Vice President of SNOC and President of Olympians Singapore, and Mr James Wong, President of the SNOC Athletes’ Commission, Council Member of SNOC.

National athlete, Gary Yeo, a silver medalist from the SEA Games 2011, several national dragon boat rowers, and Mr Yip Ren Kai, member of the SNOC Athletes’ Commission and former national water polo player were also present to support this initiative.

Yasmin Aladad Khan, Senior Vice President for DHL Express, Southeast Asia, said: “DHL has always been a strong advocate of inspiring change in children and youth through sports. It is our honour to partner SNOC once again in this program and our involvement in this initiative is one of the Group’s ways to bring our Corporate Responsibility strategy to life through active engagements in local community initiatives. The Giving and Winning program is one that is close to our hearts and we hope that through our small effort, we will be able to provide a semblance of normality to families and children displaced due to various reasons.”

Mr Ng Ser Miang said: “We are thankful for DHL’s unwavering support as our Logistics Partner in the Giving is Winning program in Singapore. Volunteerism is the foundation and one of the core values of the Olympic Movement. We hope that through this humanitarian effort, our national athletes are given an opportunity to share the Olympic spirit and warm the hearts of the refugees in Nepal.”

IOC targets to collect 100,000 clothing items for the third edition of this campaign in the run-up to the Summer Olympic Games in London. 75,000 items of clothing were collected at the last Beijing 2008 Olympics Games.