Reader's Digest

36 | July• 2018

Agency oicer and the National En-

vironmentAgencywereevencalled”

sayshisdaughterAnne.“hehouse

wasillingupwithvolunteerstohelp

cook prepare and deliver the food.

We were like st rangers in our ow n

home.”

hen one day they ran out of rice

needed to make the 1000 meals

needed for the next day. “We’ll pray

aboutit”Tonyrememberssayingto

his worried family. It worked – be-

foreday’sendaricemerchanthad

giventhemanexcessshipmenthe

needed to off load. Soon after the

family’s entire house – the living

room kitchen and bedrooms – was

illedwithsacksofrice.

ACCORDING TO THE WORLD BANK

Singapore is a high-income economy.

But local economist Yeoh Lam Ke-

ong estimates that there are between

110000–140000 households living in

time with his family and grandchil-
dren when he eventually retired.
“Distributing the bread reminded
me of the times when I had to queue
for food and nobody asked why” he
says. “The temple just gave the food
to us.”
SoonafteranothernunaskedTony
to distribute unsold vegetables from a
wholesaler to the poor. While distrib-
utingthevegetableswithhiswifean
elderlymaninarentedgovernment
lat approached them and asked for
food.Hewaslivingbyhimselfand
could not cook. The couple began
making and delivering a home-
cooked meal to the man every day.
Over time the number of meals
Ton y w a s c o ok i n g i n h i s k i t c he n a t
home grew and two friends decided
topitchinandhelp.Butasthenum-
berofmealsgrewsodidtherubbish
andcomplaintsfromhisneighbours.
“A policeman a Land Transport

Willing Hearts serves up to 7000 meals a day to disadvantaged households

PHOTO: ALAMY