Another Week Beyond – 2316
Dear friends, “What does Ramadan mean to you?” I asked a young person, and her quick reply was simply “Connection!” She then elaborated that she would mindfully make time to break her fast with her family and to appreciate the relationships in her life. Importantly, Ramadan was about caring for the less fortunate among us. This past month, we had the privilege of joining several “buka puasa” or “breaking-of-fast” meals organised by different groups of members. One such session had a group of youth bringing a dish each to our centre to meet volunteers formerly from Youth Corps Singapore who …
Another Week Beyond – 2135
Dear friends, While we support and facilitate food distribution exercises, we do not regard ourselves as a food aid agency. However, because of the pandemic, we distributed 96,117 cooked meals and $818,740 worth of supermarket vouchers last year. Spread across 20 different neighborhoods, our members received a cooked meal at least once a week and up to 5 times when it was really needed. It was not much and whenever we could provide a little more, it was always welcome. The situation was disturbing and so we embarked on a study to better understand the nature of food insecurity and food aid …
Another Week Beyond – 2046
Dear Friends, 5 years ago, Rani and her friend Manimala organized a Deepavali Celebration in their neighbourhood. They cooked up a biryani feast and kept their guests entertained with various party activities. It was a significant achievement that they were very proud of because they pulled it off without having deep pockets. All they had was a desire to celebrate the Festival of Lights with neighbours from different religious and cultural backgrounds. “There were regular Hari Raya and Chinese New Year Celebrations in our community so we thought the neighbours should also experience the joy of Deepavali,” they said beaming …
Another Week Beyond – 2016
Dear Friends, It is Day 11 of the 28-day Circuit Breaker and on behalf of everyone in our membership, our volunteers, and my colleagues, I thank you for all the warm and encouraging support that has come our way. I also send you our best wishes and kindest thoughts. Food distribution was an ongoing challenge and when a couple of planned exercises had to be postponed because of safety concerns, anxiety levels increased. It was not just going to bed with an empty stomach but, from the few calls I received, I gathered that a comforting source of support was …