Resorts World Sentosa Partners with Food from the Heart to Launch RWS Eat Well @ Community Shop Initiative

Singapore’s Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) is teaming up with Food from the Heart (FFTH) to make a significant impact on the access to fresh and nutritious food for lower-income families. The collaborative effort has resulted in the launch of the RWS Eat Well @ Community Shop initiative, which aims to alleviate the challenges faced by vulnerable households.

Under this initiative, Resorts World Sentosa will contribute S$300,000 to fund the provision of fresh produce to all four FFTH Community Shops over the course of three years. These Community Shops, located in Boon Lay, Lengkok Bahru, Mountbatten, and Punggol, serve as shop-for-free minimarts, extending assistance to 2,400 lower-income families across the island.

The partnership couldn’t have come at a more crucial time, as FFTH’s recent dipstick survey exposed the evolving grocery shopping strategies employed by families grappling with rising living costs. Many families had resorted to selecting items with extended shelf lives, inadvertently sacrificing balanced nutrition. In fact, FFTH noted a meager five percent redemption rate for fresh food categories in its four Community Shops early last year.

To tackle these pressing challenges, the RWS Eat Well @ Community Shop initiative will deliver a regular supply of fresh produce, sourced from local farms in Singapore. Items such as Chinese Cabbage (Xiao Bai Cai), Spinach, Chinese Broccoli (Kailan), Endives, and eggs will be made available. Each household benefiting from the Community Shops’ services can now select two additional items from the fresh food category every month, in addition to the existing allocation of 12 essential non-perishable food items.

The impact of the RWS Eat Well @ Community Shop initiative has already been substantial since its inception in March of this year. Notably, there has been a fourfold increase in the redemption of fresh produce, totaling nearly 9,000 redemptions at the Community Shops, compared to the first half of 2022. Among the fresh food items, Chinese Cabbage (Xiao Bai Cai), Choy Sum (Cai Xin), and eggs have emerged as clear favorites among the families. Eggs, in particular, constitute nearly half of all redeemed local fresh produce items due to their popularity as a protein source.

This partnership between Resorts World Sentosa and Food from the Heart demonstrates a strong commitment to addressing the nutritional needs of Singapore’s lower-income families and offers a glimpse of the positive impact that community collaboration can have in times of need.