2008 Cases

With record membership levels and our highest ever bank balances despite the highest ever payouts, we have had a very successful 2007 financially, and have been able to be more generous to our beneficiary families, increasing the monthly sums we give to them. And giving has included Christmas and Chinese New Year "Bonuses" to enable our three beneficiary families to provide themselves some special treats at these festive occasions.

With ongoing increases in membership during the first half of 2008 we are confident of being able to sustain these increases and are looking for opportunities to assist more families.

We are still supporting five students, several of whom are now in their final year of studies, and are in the process of approaching local tertiary institutions to locate other students, studying construction industry subjects, who may be in need of assistance.

The family of Mr Loh Boon Kee who died at the Ardmore construction site when he was struck by a 30 Kg concrete slab on 30th January was offered a cheque for $1000. The children however, told us that they do not need the money and said they'd rather the money went to people who needed it more.

In addition we made some "One-Off" payments. These include :

  • $1,000 was contributed to the father of the crane driver who was involved in a recent fatal accident at NUS.
  • The sister of the late Wong Chin Onn, who died in a road accident on New Year's eve was given $1000.

Other cases where past donations have been made are being discretely monitored by the Club with respect to their financial needs, as in many instances they are averse to seeking assistance or asking for help.

We do have a very strong bank balance with which to provide assistance. Our commitments are closely monitored to ensure that we do not over reach our ability to continue with promised support but we are in a position to provide more help and can call upon the Resources of the Regional Battersby Fund if required, so we urge all members to be alert to inform us of any cases of hardship that you come across.

 

2007 Cases

A process engineer at Foster Wheeler was diagnosed with Hodgskin disease (a form of lymphoma) last August and has had to go for a series of chemotherapy sessions. The case was brought to the attention of the Lighthouse Club and we responded right away with a cheque for $3000 to help with immediate family expenses. We are following up with him on a regular basis to see if he needs any more financial assistance.

Thank you Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank !!

A big "thank you" to the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, with whom we keep our account. They have recently agreed to assist us by making the monthly payments to our beneficiaries by standing order free of bank charges. While this does not contribute directly to the Club's funds, it does make life a whole lot easier for the administration of these disbursements where previously very busy people had to physically meet to sign cheques and then go to the bank to have them processed.

Madam Er Siau Cheng is the widow of Mr Tan Choon Hock, who died from a fall while working in a construction site on 30 April 2007. She has a 2 year old son and lives in a 3 room HDB apartment. She has no relatives in Singapore.

She is a Permanent Resident Malaysia and is unemployed at the moment. Her child is a Singaporean and Mdm Er would like raise him up in Singapore. She goes back to Batu Pahat regularly now as there is no one to look after her son. She is upgrading herself with some courses to prepare herself to look for a job when her son can go to a day care centre.

She hada number of unpaid bills including funeral expenses, hospital bills and utilities bills and her husband's CPF funds are not available as yet. We settled these bills. As she is still shuttling back and forth between Singapore and Malaysia we are trying to catch up with her to see if she needs any further help.

She has expressed her heartfelt thanks to the club for our assistance.

 

2006 Cases

A foreign worker from China was crushed to death by an overturned forklift he was driving while working at Changi Airport T3 project on Sunday 17th Dec. 2006. The worker was sent to the hospital and operated on for ten hours but did not make it. He left behind a wife and child in China. The Lighthouse Club responded to this by presenting his widow with a cheque for $3000 to cover funeral and travel expenses.

 

2005 Cases

Mr Tan Lay Siew, a general renovation construction worker was crushed to death by glass panels in Sept 2004 leaving behind his wife and two children aged 17 and 11. We approached the family and upon querying, realised that they were in need of financial help to tide them over until Mr Tan's CPF was paid out to his family. After an initial payment of assistance, and a further payment to settle a renovation Bank Loan for Mdm Lum, it was decided that the Club will be paying out a monthly sum of S$ 200 to support the son of the late Mr Tan effective Oct 2004 until Dec 2005 when the case will be reviewed.

The Club is also paying out bursaries of S$ 1,500 per annum to each of 4 students from local institutions to help fund their studies as they are from needy families and are having difficulty funding their studies.

 

Teo Lee Peng Welfare Fund

This fund closed on the 15th April 2000, and has managed to raise just over S$10,000 to assist in the continuing education of the three daughters of the late Mr Teo, who suffered a fatal accident in February 2000. The fund has been used (together with assistance from Asia Pacific funds) to pay for the education expenses of two of his daughters.

Another recipient of funds this year is the daughter of a crane driver who was disabled in a work accident. A monthly allowance is being paid to help her through high school.

It is with great sadness that I report to members that Tony Quek passed away on 14th December, after a painful fight against cancer. Tony was one of the founder members of the Lighthouse Club here in Singapore, and worked for Redland Concrete before moving to Taiwan, returning here in 2002 after falling ill. He leaves his wife, Ari, and two children aged 7 and 9. We have kept in close contact with his family, and provided some immediate financial assistance, and are continuing to receive donations from individual members. We will be reviewing how best we can provide ongoing support to the family, and will keep you advised.

We learned that one of our members was very ill with a ruptured diaphragm caused by food poisoning, and provided initial help with his medical bills. Unfortunately, he passed away in May 2004 and we have been able to provide for the funeral and some assistance to his wife, Yvonne.

May was not a good month for us in Construction - 4 fatalities at the Nicoll Highway collapse and then a further two deaths at Fusionpolis at the end of April. We have been, and will be, in contact with some of the MPs who are co-ordinating assistance efforts by the community, and will keep you informed.

We welcome applications for the disbursement of funds - please download the following form and contact one of the Trustees

Trustee guidelines and form.doc