This festive season, up to 150 children and youths will have their wishes granted through a new community initiative spearheaded by DHL.

Called “Make-A-Wish”, the project is a collaboration between DHL and charity organization Mainly I Love Kids (MILK), whose mission is to reach out to disadvantaged children and youths through preventative and rehabilitative programs, aimed at developing each child into a contributing member of society.

The project is undertaken entirely by DHL employees who will manage all its logistical aspects, including organizing a gift exchange party for the MILK beneficiaries in December.

Children and youths from MILK will first give their “wishes” for Christmas by writing them down on a specially designed gift card. These cards will then be placed on a Christmas tree at the DHL’s Express Singapore’s office lobby, where staff can pick a card each and buy the present wished for, thereby making a wish come true for a MILK beneficiary.

Gift items are recommended by MILK and can include books, soft toys, educational and board games, arts and craft sets and stationery supplies.

“Make-A-Wish” is the most extensive company-wide community project for DHL in Singapore since it kick-started Veggie Express in 2002 to help senior citizens. The highly successful Veggie Express initiative has seen DHL deliver over 60,000 packets of fresh vegetables weekly to the needy elderly. During the last festive season, DHL also worked with another charity organization Food from the Heart to deliver toys to needy students who may not otherwise have received a Christmas present.

This latest project is also the launch pad for a new community tagline, “DHL – Delivering Hope”, for all other community projects in Singapore that DHL will undertake in the future.

Teo Ser Luck, General Manager of DHL Express Singapore, said: “We want to instill in all our staff the importance of giving, not just during the festive season but throughout the year. ‘Make-A-Wish’ is a new phase in our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) directive to deliver hope to the people in the community in which we operate, and we will step up our efforts to make that happen.”

This program is in line with the regional initiative Supporting Future Generations, which represents DHL’s initiative to safeguard the well-being and ensure the social development of children across the region, primarily through the effective provision of access to quality education and healthcare.