By Cheryl Lim

TOMORROW, families can take part in an Amazing Race-style cross-island race in the Businesses for Families Cross-Island Race. They will start at United Square shopping mall, and fan out to eight different locations islandwide.

Winners will get prizes in the form of cash and vouchers.

The event is part of We Welcome Families Week, which runs from tomorrow till March 21, organised by the Businesses For Families Council (BFC).

Set up in June last year, BFC's mission is to encourage businesses to adopt more family-friendly practices in customer service.

These practices could involve anything from a mall being outfitted with a nursing room to a theme park offering discounted rates for senior citizens.

The council has also compiled My Family's Handy Guide, which lists over 50 companies that have received the Pro-Family Business Mark - an initiative started in 2006 by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports to identify pro-family retailers and encourage retailers to adopt pro-family practices.

The guide will be distributed free from tomorrow in 15 locations islandwide.

Business outlets that have received the Pro-Family Business Mark are called Markers. The number of Markers has risen to 242 from just 30 in 2007. BFC aims to have 250 Markers by the end of the year.

Nominated MP and BFC co-chairman Mildred Tan said that the Pro-Family Business Mark initiative addresses 'not just a social issue, but (also) an economic issue'.

The initiative is 'an economic driver', she explained, because businesses that get involved benefit when families recognise their efforts and become regular patrons.

Besides food-and-beverage outlets and shopping malls that families frequent, which make up the bulk of current Markers, BFC will be courting businesses from a wider range of sectors, including health care, said Mrs Tan.

For instance, in the health-care sector, KK Women's and Children's Hospital and Thomson Medical Centre are Markers.

A business can also choose to be a Pledger, which means it simply commits to adopting family-friendly practices.

Like Markers, Pledgers get a decal they can put up on their business premises, but Pledgers need not undergo accreditation.

In 2007, there were 2,032 Pledgers; today there are 3,888. BFC hopes to have 5,000 Pledgers by the end of the year.

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