TWENTY DBS Bank employees shaved their heads yesterday for a good cause - the Children's Cancer Foundation.

They were also joined in the fund-raising activity by the husband of one DBS employee, himself a brain tumour survivor, and a colleague from a DBS subsidiary.

The 22 volunteers got their locks shorn at the bank's Shenton Way headquarters yesterday.

The participants included DBS' head of consumer banking Rajan Raju and chief risk officer Elbert Pattijn.

Their participation marks the first Hair For Hope satellite event organised by a company this year.

The bank has raised more than $90,000 for the foundation to date. Fund-raising will continue this month with all proceeds going towards the foundation's therapeutic play and 'Back to School' programmes.

Through therapeutic play, the children are taught to cope with anxieties related to the illness in a fun manner; while the 'Back to School' programme helps in the transition back to school after treatment has been completed.

DBS said that the bank is committed to supporting children in Asia in the area of learning.

The bank added that its participation is also in tribute to former chief executive Richard Stanley, who died two months ago after complications arising from an infection due to leukaemia.

Last year, six employees from DBS shaved their heads for the same cause.

DBS employees have taken part in various community projects, such as taking children from an Indonesian orphanage out on a farm trip, delivering educational gifts to low-income households in Singapore and collecting stationery for children in Cambodia.

The reason for shaving their heads is to show solidarity with cancer sufferers, who often lose hair while undergoing treatment such as chemotherapy.

LEE SU SHYAN

This article was first published in The Straits Times.