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PropertyGuru gives back to the less fortunate in Thailand

PropertyGuru Group believes in giving back to society and improving the lives of others. Each year the company conducts activities to support the needy and since 2011, PropertyGuru employees have raised more than $70,000 for a number of causes, including Yellow Ribbon, the Thai floods, Japanese Tsunami, Hair for Hope (Children's Cancer Society) as well as Earth Hour and Blood Donation drives.

This year "GuruCares", the company's community outreach program, chose Habitat for Humanity as its beneficiary. Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit organisation that builds and repairs houses all over the world using volunteer labour and donations.

Last week 60 PropertyGuru employees from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand travelled to Rayong, two hours south of Bangkok, to help build two houses to serve as homes for two less fortunate families.

For this effort, an amount of $30,000 is needed to be raised. Over the past few weeks, fundraising activities were conducted internally – including the sale of homemade cookies and "GuruCares" T-shirts, providing professional dance classes, manicures, cup-washing and car-washing services, as well as organising a flea market. Together with the generous donations of our business partners, more than $17,000 has been raised so far across four countries.

The two beneficiaries of the program are Wichit Konpien and Wilawan Pongsapang. Wichit and his wife work in Thailand to support their two school-age children. While they have fixed income, ongoing living expenses are rising daily. Unfortunately their salaries are not keeping up with the cost of living, which has impacted their ability to meet their dream of owning a home. They have rented their current home for approximately ten years but support from Habitat for Humanity will enable them to move into their own home for the first time, easing their financial burden and helping them to continue providing support to their growing children.

Wilawan Pongsapang, her husband and two children currently live in a small house, occupying a mere 18 sqm. The presence of mice and cockroaches have impeded their ability to provide a clean, safe environment for their children and the monthly rental costs are preventing them from amassing sufficient savings to own a home. Assistance from Habitat for Humanity will help Wilawan and her family move into a more permanent, cleaner and safer environment while enabling them to save money.

Help PropertyGuru help Habitat for Humanity and these less fortunate Thai families by donating now.

Image: PropertyGuru Group CEO and Co-founder Steve Melhuish with some of the PropertyGuru team in Thailand building two homes as part of the company's efforts to give back to the community.

Andrew Batt, International Group Editor of PropertyGuru Group, wrote this story. To contact him about this or other stories email andrew@propertyguru.com.sg

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