<TABLE class=msgtable cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="96%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=msg vAlign=top><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgbfr1 width="1%"> </TD><TD><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgF width="1%" noWrap align=right>From: </TD><TD class=msgFname width="68%" noWrap>kojakbt22 <NOBR>
</NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate width="30%" noWrap align=right>8:45 am </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT height=20 width="1%" noWrap align=right>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname width="68%" noWrap>ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft rowSpan=4 width="1%"> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>15976.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD>June 27, 2009
RECESSION HEROES
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : start --></TD></TR><TR><TD>Feeding jobless foreigners
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : end --></TD></TR><TR><TD>Soup kitchen volunteers Francis and Janice Wong visit dorm twice a month to distribute food </TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- Author --></TD></TR><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Elizabeth Soh
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- show image if available --></TD></TR><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
</TD><TD vAlign=bottom>
Mrs Wong (left) and her husband have just enough resources to feed 300 migrant workers at Blue Start Dormitory in Boon lay. they hope to get more volunteers and expands. -- ST PHOTO: SAMUEL HE
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->
FOR the unemployed migrant workers living at Blue Star Dormitory in Boon Lay, their only proper meal comes twice a month.
That is when Mr Francis Wong, 42, and volunteers from St Anthony's Church drop by to distribute 300 packets of vegetable curry rice, along with apples and cookies. The rest of the time, the workers make do with dry bread and water, which is all they can afford.
'Even when they had jobs, things were very tough and most earned about $5 a day. Now those who have lost their jobs in the recession don't know where their next meal will come from,' says Mr Wong, a freelance management consultant on corporate social responsibility.
He and his wife Janice, 41, a former marketing executive who is now a full-time volunteer, run the food distribution project called Soup Kitchen Agape. Along with 10 other volunteers, he sets aside four days a month to prepare meals for the migrant workers.
Work starts on the second and fourth Wednesday of every month, when Mrs Wong heads to NTUC FairPrice and Sheng Siong Supermarket to buy 15kg of rice, 10kg of vegetables, and 300 apples. The next day, at noon, the volunteers come together to wash, chop and cook, then pack six buckets of curry at St Anthony's Church kitchen at Woodlands Avenue 1.
'Quite a few of the volunteers are also victims of the recent economic downturn themselves who got retrenched,' says Mr Wong. 'But they think positively and use their free time to come and help others instead of dwelling on their troubles.'
Six hours later, a convoy of volunteers' cars, loaded with meal packets, wends its way from the church to the Boon Lay dormitory. Almost immediately, a long line of hungry men snakes around the dormitory blocks.
At 6pm, most of the dormitory's 5,000 residents are still hard at work at construction sites and shipyards. Only the out-of-work ones tend to be around. The 300 packets are doled out on a first come, first served basis. When they run out, the rest are sadly turned away.
'We definitely want to expand, and money is not an issue because we have many ready donors, but we need more volunteers to keep this going,' says Mrs Wong.
The Wongs - both Catholics - were first motivated to help after they read horror stories in the newspapers about migrant workers being cheated and left homeless by unscrupulous agents in January last year. They started helping out with a similar food distribution project organised by St Ignatius Church at Blue Star Dormitory for three months and took over when it was discontinued in July last year.
It was tough in the beginning. Often, it was just the two of them running the entire operation, when other volunteers failed to show.
There was also friction with the dormitory's provision store-owner, who felt their free food deliveries were snatching away business. To resolve this, the couple started buying curry ingredients from the store owner, who now supports their work and gives them a substantial discount.
Through it all, the Wongs, who live in a cluster house in Yishun and do not have any children, say their faith has sustained them.
Mrs Wong says: 'Our priest was very supportive and allowed us to use the church kitchens for free. We prayed for sustainability, and it must be working, because so far the cost of the food has always been covered by donations. We have never had to fork out any money from our own pockets so far.'
The cost of preparing 300 meal packets every other week is $500. Most of it is financed by friends, fellow church-goers, and anonymous donors.
'We don't raise more than we need,' says Mr Wong, 'Our donors simply top up the sum to make $500 every time we are short.'
Word about the soup kitchen has since spread and others outside their circle, including retailers, are chipping in to help. On top of the curry rice, the workers now enjoy desserts of red bean buns, French loaves and doughnuts donated by bakery Sweet Secrets. Along with food, they once even received second-hand jeans, courtesy of Levi's.
Recently, the Wongs were given a few hundred tins of canned tuna, just shy of their expiry date from a mystery donor. Placing the workers' safety before their own, they sampled it first before dishing it out. 'They are human too, we cannot serve them spoilt food just because it is free,' says Mr Wong.
Besides filling their stomachs, the Wongs and their volunteers also spend time at the dormitory learning more about the workers' needs and figuring out how else to help them.
'The workers tell me about their problems,' says retired businessman Paul Raj, 67, a volunteer since February. 'I hear about their lack of jobs, how they cannot even get one shift in a whole week, and try to comfort them as best as I can.'
Through their conversations, Mr Wong found out that some jobless workers eat a proper meal only once every two or three days. 'They can't even afford to take public transport to get free food from restaurants in Little India at Desker Road, so we know we have to take it to them,' he says.
He and his wife are quick to dismiss any notions of heroism on their part.
'We don't see this as charity, because all of us get so much in return in terms of fulfilment and meaning,' says Mrs Wong. 'We have been paid back many times for the little effort that we put in.'
However, they are heroes to those they help.
Indian national P. Vairamani, 26, who works as a labourer in a petrochemical company and has seen his income dip from $700 to $450 a month this year, says: 'My friends and I are happy and touched that they are here to help.
'They try very hard for us, even making vegetarian curry so all of us can eat. I feel very moved.'
[email protected]
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
RECESSION HEROES
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : start --></TD></TR><TR><TD>Feeding jobless foreigners
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : end --></TD></TR><TR><TD>Soup kitchen volunteers Francis and Janice Wong visit dorm twice a month to distribute food </TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- Author --></TD></TR><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Elizabeth Soh
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- show image if available --></TD></TR><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
Mrs Wong (left) and her husband have just enough resources to feed 300 migrant workers at Blue Start Dormitory in Boon lay. they hope to get more volunteers and expands. -- ST PHOTO: SAMUEL HE
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->
FOR the unemployed migrant workers living at Blue Star Dormitory in Boon Lay, their only proper meal comes twice a month.
That is when Mr Francis Wong, 42, and volunteers from St Anthony's Church drop by to distribute 300 packets of vegetable curry rice, along with apples and cookies. The rest of the time, the workers make do with dry bread and water, which is all they can afford.
'Even when they had jobs, things were very tough and most earned about $5 a day. Now those who have lost their jobs in the recession don't know where their next meal will come from,' says Mr Wong, a freelance management consultant on corporate social responsibility.
He and his wife Janice, 41, a former marketing executive who is now a full-time volunteer, run the food distribution project called Soup Kitchen Agape. Along with 10 other volunteers, he sets aside four days a month to prepare meals for the migrant workers.
Work starts on the second and fourth Wednesday of every month, when Mrs Wong heads to NTUC FairPrice and Sheng Siong Supermarket to buy 15kg of rice, 10kg of vegetables, and 300 apples. The next day, at noon, the volunteers come together to wash, chop and cook, then pack six buckets of curry at St Anthony's Church kitchen at Woodlands Avenue 1.
'Quite a few of the volunteers are also victims of the recent economic downturn themselves who got retrenched,' says Mr Wong. 'But they think positively and use their free time to come and help others instead of dwelling on their troubles.'
Six hours later, a convoy of volunteers' cars, loaded with meal packets, wends its way from the church to the Boon Lay dormitory. Almost immediately, a long line of hungry men snakes around the dormitory blocks.
At 6pm, most of the dormitory's 5,000 residents are still hard at work at construction sites and shipyards. Only the out-of-work ones tend to be around. The 300 packets are doled out on a first come, first served basis. When they run out, the rest are sadly turned away.
'We definitely want to expand, and money is not an issue because we have many ready donors, but we need more volunteers to keep this going,' says Mrs Wong.
The Wongs - both Catholics - were first motivated to help after they read horror stories in the newspapers about migrant workers being cheated and left homeless by unscrupulous agents in January last year. They started helping out with a similar food distribution project organised by St Ignatius Church at Blue Star Dormitory for three months and took over when it was discontinued in July last year.
It was tough in the beginning. Often, it was just the two of them running the entire operation, when other volunteers failed to show.
There was also friction with the dormitory's provision store-owner, who felt their free food deliveries were snatching away business. To resolve this, the couple started buying curry ingredients from the store owner, who now supports their work and gives them a substantial discount.
Through it all, the Wongs, who live in a cluster house in Yishun and do not have any children, say their faith has sustained them.
Mrs Wong says: 'Our priest was very supportive and allowed us to use the church kitchens for free. We prayed for sustainability, and it must be working, because so far the cost of the food has always been covered by donations. We have never had to fork out any money from our own pockets so far.'
The cost of preparing 300 meal packets every other week is $500. Most of it is financed by friends, fellow church-goers, and anonymous donors.
'We don't raise more than we need,' says Mr Wong, 'Our donors simply top up the sum to make $500 every time we are short.'
Word about the soup kitchen has since spread and others outside their circle, including retailers, are chipping in to help. On top of the curry rice, the workers now enjoy desserts of red bean buns, French loaves and doughnuts donated by bakery Sweet Secrets. Along with food, they once even received second-hand jeans, courtesy of Levi's.
Recently, the Wongs were given a few hundred tins of canned tuna, just shy of their expiry date from a mystery donor. Placing the workers' safety before their own, they sampled it first before dishing it out. 'They are human too, we cannot serve them spoilt food just because it is free,' says Mr Wong.
Besides filling their stomachs, the Wongs and their volunteers also spend time at the dormitory learning more about the workers' needs and figuring out how else to help them.
'The workers tell me about their problems,' says retired businessman Paul Raj, 67, a volunteer since February. 'I hear about their lack of jobs, how they cannot even get one shift in a whole week, and try to comfort them as best as I can.'
Through their conversations, Mr Wong found out that some jobless workers eat a proper meal only once every two or three days. 'They can't even afford to take public transport to get free food from restaurants in Little India at Desker Road, so we know we have to take it to them,' he says.
He and his wife are quick to dismiss any notions of heroism on their part.
'We don't see this as charity, because all of us get so much in return in terms of fulfilment and meaning,' says Mrs Wong. 'We have been paid back many times for the little effort that we put in.'
However, they are heroes to those they help.
Indian national P. Vairamani, 26, who works as a labourer in a petrochemical company and has seen his income dip from $700 to $450 a month this year, says: 'My friends and I are happy and touched that they are here to help.
'They try very hard for us, even making vegetarian curry so all of us can eat. I feel very moved.'
[email protected]
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
