Ms Indranee Rajah, Minister, Prime Minister’s Office, Second Minister for Finance and National Development, and Adviser to Tanjong Pagar GRC 

Mr Roger Tan, Vice President, Manufacturing Operations, TechnipFMC 

Our partners, sponsors and volunteers  

Participants 

Ladies and Gentlemen 

Welcome  

A very good morning. We are very happy to see so many of you here today. Thank you for the strong turnout to participate in and to support the SPD Ability Walk & Run 2022. Although the event is being held for the seventh time, this year’s edition is special indeed.  

A New & Refreshed Event Format 

Over the last two years, like many other organisations, SPD had to do many things differently because of the pandemic. We had to adapt the way we deliver care to our beneficiaries and how we engage our partners and supporters. We also reviewed our event format. In 2020 and 2021, we introduced the virtual walk when we could not conduct physical events.  

The SPD Ability Walk is back today. It is the 7th edition and it is a special and refreshed edition. The Walk this year comprises both a physical event and a virtual segment. This morning, we’ll have fun exploring the Singapore River and also learn about disability conditions and challenges through a series of geo-location activities as we make our way through this iconic location. The virtual edition will kick off tomorrow and run till 24 September.  

This is the first major event that we are organising since 2019, and we are heartened by the outpouring of support. We are expecting over 1,200 participants today and more than 2,000 virtual participants. So, thank you very much! 

Thanking Supporters and Partners  

Notwithstanding the disruptions caused by the pandemic, SPD is encouraged by the long-standing and unwavering support from our sponsors and partners. You have stayed with us, in good and bad times. We are deeply grateful to all of you for making today possible. I’d like to give a shout out to a few. Our heartfelt appreciation goes to our good friends TechnipFMC and Phillips 66 who have supported us since the first SPD Ability Walk in 2016.  Very special thanks also go to Exyte Singapore for your unwavering support these last four years and for rallying so many of your staff (I hear there are 200!) to sign up for our event.  We are also very grateful for the support of our new friends to this event including Amazon, Ascent Advisory, Edmund Optics, Hong Lam Marine, Red Hat, and VDL. 

And of course, a very big thank you to Minister Indranee Rajah for gracing us with your presence and doing us the honour of flagging off this morning’s walk.  

Building an Inclusive Society Together 

 SPD organises charity events like this to raise funds to keep our programmes and services running so that persons with disabilities can be independent and self-reliant. I am pleased to announce that we have raised close to $200,000 so far through this Walk. But equally important is the conversations and buzz that we hope such events would generate on disability and inclusion.  We can all contribute towards the development of an inclusive society that welcomes people of different abilities. 

Please continue to stay engaged with SPD, with our work and most importantly, that you would always lend your voice to support persons with disabilities. 

Conclusion  

 I wish you all a pleasant walk and an enjoyable time with friends and families this morning. 

Thank you