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Free and uneasy
Free food at Singapore Buddhist Lodge but officials mourn wastage
By Kelvin Chng and Ho Lian-Yi
June 09, 2009
FROM ALL WALKS OF LIFE: The lunchtime crowd attracts mainly foreign workers but others also turn up for the free food. TNP PICTURES: KELVIN CHNG
DON'T get China national Huang Danghe, 36, started on the food he gets at his workers' hostel. 'I give them $140 a month for lodgings, they give me rubbish to eat,' he said.
It is lunchtime on a Thursday at the soup kitchen in Singapore Buddhist Lodge, which gives out free vegetarian meals and Mr Huang is relishing his meal.
'Here, I can choose. (At the hostel), I can't even recognise what they put in the soup,' he said, in Mandarin.
Ever since the recession hit - and thanks to publicity from previous newspaper reports - the Lodge has become a much busier place, said its president, Mr Lee Bock Guan, 64.
From 1,100 hungry people on weekdays, it now has close to 1,600 to feed. Weekends see a surge from 4,000 to 6,000.
Many are foreign workers like Mr Huang.
As it is, the Lodge at the quiet Kim Yam Road, near River Valley Road, already spends $7 million a year on its various charitable endeavours.
FREE: The Lodge does not allow anyone to pack and take away the free food but looks like the herbal tea is too good to resist.
But its popularity with workers has also incurred the wrath of hawkers.
'A lot of them call and scold us, saying we affect their business. One woman was very fierce,' he said.
But he is quick to point out that it is not only the poor who eat here. It also attracts devotees, the rich and the curious.
Mr Lee has no problems with people who do not donate after eating, even if they are well-to-do.
It is the rude, unappreciative and ungrateful that upset him. 'Some even want to choose what rice to eat - some say they only eat AAA rice,' he said.
One wasteful visitor took a plateful of fruits, ate half, and threw away the rest.
Such wastage angers Mr Lee because he knows of donors, such as older folk, who take public transport from afar just to donate a bag of rice to the Lodge.
A man enjoys the vegetarian food provided.
But he also has heartwarming stories.
He has seen former frequent visitors climb out of poverty and start donating after becoming businessmen or restaurant owners.
Even the recent newspaper report of a mysterious donor who gives $40,000 to $50,000 every month is not unusual.
The biggest sum they have ever received is a cheque for $5 million.
He also often receives lawyer letters from people bequeathing property to them.
But some of those who enjoy the free food don't seem to understand the sacrifices others make so they can have a meal.
Free and uneasy
Free food at Singapore Buddhist Lodge but officials mourn wastage
By Kelvin Chng and Ho Lian-Yi
June 09, 2009
FROM ALL WALKS OF LIFE: The lunchtime crowd attracts mainly foreign workers but others also turn up for the free food. TNP PICTURES: KELVIN CHNG
DON'T get China national Huang Danghe, 36, started on the food he gets at his workers' hostel. 'I give them $140 a month for lodgings, they give me rubbish to eat,' he said.
It is lunchtime on a Thursday at the soup kitchen in Singapore Buddhist Lodge, which gives out free vegetarian meals and Mr Huang is relishing his meal.
'Here, I can choose. (At the hostel), I can't even recognise what they put in the soup,' he said, in Mandarin.
Ever since the recession hit - and thanks to publicity from previous newspaper reports - the Lodge has become a much busier place, said its president, Mr Lee Bock Guan, 64.
From 1,100 hungry people on weekdays, it now has close to 1,600 to feed. Weekends see a surge from 4,000 to 6,000.
Many are foreign workers like Mr Huang.
As it is, the Lodge at the quiet Kim Yam Road, near River Valley Road, already spends $7 million a year on its various charitable endeavours.
FREE: The Lodge does not allow anyone to pack and take away the free food but looks like the herbal tea is too good to resist.
But its popularity with workers has also incurred the wrath of hawkers.
'A lot of them call and scold us, saying we affect their business. One woman was very fierce,' he said.
But he is quick to point out that it is not only the poor who eat here. It also attracts devotees, the rich and the curious.
Mr Lee has no problems with people who do not donate after eating, even if they are well-to-do.
It is the rude, unappreciative and ungrateful that upset him. 'Some even want to choose what rice to eat - some say they only eat AAA rice,' he said.
One wasteful visitor took a plateful of fruits, ate half, and threw away the rest.
Such wastage angers Mr Lee because he knows of donors, such as older folk, who take public transport from afar just to donate a bag of rice to the Lodge.
A man enjoys the vegetarian food provided.
But he also has heartwarming stories.
He has seen former frequent visitors climb out of poverty and start donating after becoming businessmen or restaurant owners.
Even the recent newspaper report of a mysterious donor who gives $40,000 to $50,000 every month is not unusual.
The biggest sum they have ever received is a cheque for $5 million.
He also often receives lawyer letters from people bequeathing property to them.
But some of those who enjoy the free food don't seem to understand the sacrifices others make so they can have a meal.
