SINGAPORE – Mapletree Investments Pte Ltd (“Mapletree” or the “Group”) is giving copies of the follow-up Activity Book of children’s picture book, “What’s Inside the Red Box?” to 317 preschools under the Early Childhood Development Agency (“ECDA”)’s “Start Small Dream Big 2016” initiative. “What’s Inside the Red Box?” is inspired by the red box used by Singapore’s late Founding Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, as a briefcase while he was serving in political office, and known to many to contain his aspirations for the nation.

Targeted at children aged three to seven years old, the book was first commissioned by Mapletree and launched in December 2015. This follow-up special edition features additional activity pages to encourage young readers to dream big so that they can contribute in their own unique way and make Singapore a better place. The book gifting initiative will see Mapletree provide 6,000 books to all participating preschools as teaching materials, reaching out to about 20,000 preschoolers.

Said Mr Hiew Yoon Khong, Group Chief Executive Officer of Mapletree: “Our Founding Fathers held high aspirations for Singapore and worked tirelessly to attain these dreams. As a home-grown company, we commit a fixed portion of our profits to enriching communities and purposefully direct contributions to support education-related causes in Singapore as we believe that access to education will help our younger generation achieve their dreams. With this book, and our earlier gift to all preschools under PAP Community Foundation, we hope to ignite at a young age, the spirit to dream big and build a better Singapore.”

A ceremony to mark the donation was held today at the Gilstead campus of St James Church Kindergarten (“SJCK”), where Mr Tan Chuan-Jin, Minister for Social and Family Development launched the special edition Activity Book and the Red Box Day exhibition, organised by ECDA. In addition to the activity books, participating preschools under the “Start Small Dream Big” initiative will also receive special ‘red boxes’ for their preschoolers that include items such as activity cards, drawing and writing materials.