The_King Posted September 19, 2020 Share Posted September 19, 2020 SINGAPORE — In the first nine months of this year, non-profit group Food from the Heart revealed that the number of households receiving aid from its food distribution programmes has jumped by 50 per cent, from about 6,000 in January to 9,000 in September. The Food Bank Singapore, a charity that does food distribution, also told TODAY that over the two-month circuit breaker period in April and May when stay-home curbs were imposed, it distributed 560 tonnes of food. This is already more than half of the 802 tonnes it distributed in the whole of last year. The charities noted, too, that there is a “new poor” emerging due to the poor economic conditions brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. These are people who typically do not reach out for aid such as young couples or those living in private properties. Food from the Heart is now delivering 9,000 food packs a month to households-in-need. Photo: Food from the Heart/Facebook On Wednesday (Sept 16), the results of a study done last year was released, showing that one in 10 Singaporean households did not eat enough to stay healthy, and that some have just one meal a day. The Hunger Report 2019, by a team of researchers from the Lien Centre for Social Innovation at the Singapore Management University (SMU), also showed that only about two in 10 caught in this situation were receiving support in this area. These cases were classified as people who faced food insecurity, or households and individuals who do not have enough to eat because of limited money or other resources. The report found that the top reasons given for not having enough food were linked to financial constraints, such as having to pay off mortgage and rent, job loss and health issues. In response to the findings, the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) said on Wednesday that it will continue to work and partner with a workgroup to tackle food insecurity in Singapore. The Charity Food Workgroup comprises food support organisations — including The Food Bank Singapore and Food from the Heart — as well as various corporations and government agencies MSF said: “The report raises awareness on food insecurity in Singapore, as well as the need for a cross-sector approach where the Government, the community and corporates come together to better coordinate food support.” It added that there are two initiatives in the works to better enable coordination of food support: A database of beneficiaries and the testing of “local food support coordinators” at a few public housing estates. Ms Sim Bee Hia, chief executive officer of Food from the Heart, told TODAY that the reason for the recent stark increase in the number of people seeking aid was due to the nature of their jobs. The charity gives away fresh items such as root vegetables, eggs and bread. It also distributes food packs of non-perishable food items such as canned food, rice and biscuits once a month to households in need. For those who typically receive aid, including seniors and those living in rental flats, many are paid by the hour at work to do cleaning and wash dishes. During the circuit breaker when non-essential activities were restricted, offices and food-and-beverage outlets shuttered, leaving these workers with little or no work to do. “They were already hard hit, and were hit even further… The employer cut their hours, and there were no jobs given to them, so they did not have the income.” Mr Ronnie Ma, 50, a food coordinator who is taking part in MSF’s new initiatives, observed the same trend among the vulnerable. The People’s Association volunteer in Kampong Glam helps link food charities to the needy residents in the community he serves. Before the pandemic, his team distributed about 150 packets of food for lunch daily to residents-in-need along Beach Road. During the circuit breaker, there were days when his team distributed three times more — as many as 450 packets over lunch and dinner. The figure has since stabilised to 180 packets a day. “We can help at least by providing security in terms of food,” he said. “They can worry about everything else but they don’t have to worry about food.” NOT READY TO LET OTHERS KNOW In the study by SMU, slightly more than six in 10 of food-insecure households did not seek help, giving reasons such as embarrassment, being unaware of food aid, and believing that others needed the help more. Ms Sim of Food from the Heart attested to this, saying that the stigma of asking for food donations has prevented some people from seeking help. She also recounted the case of a sole breadwinner who had lost his job and was requesting a food pack. He insisted on picking up the pack from the charity’s warehouse near Upper Aljunied rather than have it delivered to his house, which would have been more convenient. “He explained to my staff that he didn’t want his children to know that he is getting food help,” Ms Sim said. “They are not comfortable getting help because they’ve never had to seek help.” A DIFFERENT GROUP The jump in cases seeking aid notwithstanding, the profiles of people needing help have expanded. In its outreach work, the team at The Food Bank has seen about 500 cases where the beneficiaries live in either five-room public housing flats, condominiums, or even landed properties. This group makes up about 10 per cent of all the cases that have reached out to the non-profit for food rations. In comparison, there were just two such cases last year that fit this profile. Ms Nichol Ng, co-founder of The Food Bank, said: “It might be the elderly who have not worked for a few years, or maybe those running sole proprietorships,” she said. Volunteers pitching in to support The Food Bank Singapore, with some turning up with their children to help pack food items for the needy. The Food Bank Singapore/Facebook A similar trend was observed by Food from the Heart. Ms Sim, who calls these cases the “new poor”, said that she encountered a case of a young couple in their late 20s or early 30s that had spent all their savings renovating their new Housing and Development Board (HDB) flat before the Covid-19 outbreak. When the public health crisis intensified, the husband lost his job while the wife had her pay cut, and the couple was not able to afford their meals when their savings dried up. “These are people who managed to get by in the past, day to day… and then now, they totally lost their income,” Ms Sim said. “These are the group of people who would not know where to go for help.” SHORTAGE OF VOLUNTEERS At a time when charities have been facing a drop in monetary donations, both food charities said that these and donations of non-perishables have gone up for them, and this has helped them to cope with the surge in demand for aid. Food from the Heart said that this increase is partly because there was more awareness on social media, for example, of the plight of the needy during this period. Retail outlets and food-and-beverage outlets also donated their excess goods, The Food Bank said. However, the struggle is in finding volunteers to sort and distribute the items. They could no longer depend on students or some employees from private companies, since Covid-19 restrictions prevented most people from volunteering with them. Ms Sim said that those from the civil service and members of the public stepped in to help in the food distribution efforts in the absence of the usual community of volunteers. With the increase in donations, Food from the Heart was also able to rope in a delivery service to help in distribution efforts. Similarly, Ms Ng from The Food Bank had to hire about 10 workers to distribute food rather than depend solely on volunteers. For Mr Ma, he had to recruit 15 volunteers a day, up from the usual eight, to deliver food to more residents around the neighbourhood. The charities added that the workgroup set up by MSF has made things easier for them in other ways though. For one thing, the development of a database of people receiving food support has helped the charities better coordinate their efforts. For example, this has prevented households from receiving food packs from more than one charity, since such duplication usually leads to food going to waste, Ms Ng said. “MSF will say, ‘This guy has already been served by (the ministry or other group), don’t waste your food’,” she added. That way, more households will be able to receive aid, she explained. “If we didn’t have the (workgroup), many more people wouldn’t have received help.” Read more at https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/more-households-need-food-aid-including-younger-couples-and-private-property-dwellers 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_King Posted September 19, 2020 Author Share Posted September 19, 2020 dont understand why spend so much for a lessee home. spend less on useless reno and keep the rest for other stuff 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chamfer Posted September 19, 2020 Share Posted September 19, 2020 24 minutes ago, The_King said: dont understand why spend so much for a lessee home. spend less on useless reno and keep the rest for other stuff They fail to see the truth...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_King Posted September 19, 2020 Author Share Posted September 19, 2020 6 minutes ago, chamfer said: They fail to see the truth...... confirm 61%. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_King Posted September 19, 2020 Author Share Posted September 19, 2020 why spend so much on light, design, kitchen cab, toilet, door, expensive fridge etc.... when you can spend on better bed, better food, better chair like Herman miller chair if you sit on it for more then 5 hr per day( your body will thank you) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_King Posted September 19, 2020 Author Share Posted September 19, 2020 all these video for me is really out for me, design and theme spend so much for what. spend on better food or bed or go relax or bring family out for a meal la. still waiting for them to upload a practical home by a frugal practical person who spend on what is important 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chamfer Posted September 19, 2020 Share Posted September 19, 2020 (edited) Edited September 19, 2020 by chamfer 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XianGe Posted September 19, 2020 Share Posted September 19, 2020 (edited) 2 hours ago, The_King said: why spend so much on light, design, kitchen cab, toilet, door, expensive fridge etc.... when you can spend on better bed, better food, better chair like Herman miller chair if you sit on it for more then 5 hr per day( your body will thank you) Sb61 always fail to see the important stuff Kitchen cab use long liao will still spoil... Edited September 19, 2020 by XianGe 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_King Posted September 19, 2020 Author Share Posted September 19, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, XianGe said: Sb61 always fail to see the important stuff Kitchen cab use long liao will still spoil... main stream media, keep showing all these home yet not even a frugal practical home. like easy DIY home how to save, cheap deco to make your home look nicer, which a lot youtube in america is doing, get cheap/use stuff then a bit art and craft or diy, very nice looking etc.... or even buy the correct size of the electrical stuff, teach ppl not to one shot buy everything and instead ask them to buy what is needed first like bed, food, wardrobe, washing machine etc..... then the rest once move in can slowly buy like sofa, TV, pot, kicthen (if young ppl dont even cook at least 2 time per month) Edited September 19, 2020 by The_King 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_King Posted September 19, 2020 Author Share Posted September 19, 2020 when i apply for bto, all these i also dont know, but i expose myself to america home reno, which make me learn a lot 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ODACHEK Posted September 19, 2020 Share Posted September 19, 2020 Heng moi reno was only 10K for a 4rm back in 2007. TVB for life... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZyringChu Posted September 20, 2020 Share Posted September 20, 2020 no such issue as i have no partner:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
socrates469bc Posted September 20, 2020 Share Posted September 20, 2020 19 hours ago, The_King said: dont understand why spend so much for a lessee home. spend less on useless reno and keep the rest for other stuff 18 hours ago, chamfer said: They fail to see the truth...... they overextended, no sympathy from me. wahahahahahhahahhaha 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meng.huat Posted September 20, 2020 Share Posted September 20, 2020 19 hours ago, The_King said: a case of a young couple in their late 20s or early 30s that had spent all their savings renovating their new Housing and Development Board (HDB) flat before the Covid-19 outbreak. When the public health crisis intensified, the husband lost his job while the wife had her pay cut, and the couple was not able to afford their meals when their savings dried up. “These are people who managed to get by in the past, day to day… and then now, they totally lost their income,” Ms Sim said. “These are the group of people who would not know where to go for help.” wahahaha... Tell them to eat their satki 72" TV? maybe ask the wife sell her collect of LV channel bags? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManOfTheHour Posted September 20, 2020 Share Posted September 20, 2020 On 9/19/2020 at 10:46 PM, The_King said: confirm 61%. Confirm warriors Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaur4man Posted September 20, 2020 Share Posted September 20, 2020 actually after wedding house car reno, we really dry. baby come out we completely broke and living paycheck to paycheck. being younger it was supposedly ok to risk. nowadays I hear fresh grad harder to find jobs, don't know when is next pandemic, so much volatility, better not live with too much risk man 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XianGe Posted September 20, 2020 Share Posted September 20, 2020 1 hour ago, aaur4man said: actually after wedding house car reno, we really dry. baby come out we completely broke and living paycheck to paycheck. being younger it was supposedly ok to risk. nowadays I hear fresh grad harder to find jobs, don't know when is next pandemic, so much volatility, better not live with too much risk man Good luck to the new gen who not silver serpent... Jobs not safe how to cheong 5rm HDB or ec... Only those into sales who sell n run will have the $$$ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_King Posted September 20, 2020 Author Share Posted September 20, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, aaur4man said: actually after wedding house car reno, we really dry. baby come out we completely broke and living paycheck to paycheck. being younger it was supposedly ok to risk. nowadays I hear fresh grad harder to find jobs, don't know when is next pandemic, so much volatility, better not live with too much risk man that why non 61% low ses dont get married, we did our math and found it, we have no choice but to die alone in our flat when we old, then to live a life all work and work and work and worry a lot Edited September 20, 2020 by The_King 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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