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<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Secret donor gives $40k monthly to Buddhist Lodge
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Yen Feng
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Mr Lee Bock Guan, chairman of the Singapore Buddhist Lodge, a temple in Kim Yam Road, showing the monthly donations received from an anonymous donor. The money is usually dropped off in the temple kitchen, which dishes up over 1,000 free meals daily. -- PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->FOR three years, an anonymous devotee has been secretly dropping off wads of cash every month at the Singapore Buddhist Lodge in River Valley.
Nobody knows who he - or she - is, what he does, or even how tall or short he is.
The only mark of identification is his donation: Four or five wads of folded $1,000 bills, adding up to $40,000 or $50,000 - every month.
On Sunday morning, staff at the Lodge found the contribution as the temple in Kim Yam Road opened to its followers.
As in previous drop-offs, the money lay at the bottom of the metal donation box in front of a 3m-tall Buddha statue in the temple kitchen.
Four separate bundles added up to $47,000.
The chairman of the Lodge, Mr Lee Bock Guan, said he believes the donations come from one person.
'You know it is the same person, because the notes always come in the same way, in four or five neat bundles,' said Mr Lee.
'Separate donations, the notes are usually loose.'
After three years, that is roughly $1.5 million in cold, hard cash - a big-hearted amount, more so in this recession.
A small security camera eyes the donation box but Mr Lee said the Lodge has no plans to discover the mysterious donor's identity.
He said: 'The donor could have written a cheque. By donating in cash, he prefers to be unknown.
'We thank this person but will not try to find out who he is.'
The Singapore Buddhist Lodge serves more than 1,000 free meals daily and up to 6,000 on weekends.
It spends $210,000 a month on its daily buffet and plans to spend more, as more people come forward for financial help. This year, the group also increased its education bursary budget from $1 million to $1.2 million, even as its donations have dipped by about 20 per cent. It has about $10 million in reserves.
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Yen Feng
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
Mr Lee Bock Guan, chairman of the Singapore Buddhist Lodge, a temple in Kim Yam Road, showing the monthly donations received from an anonymous donor. The money is usually dropped off in the temple kitchen, which dishes up over 1,000 free meals daily. -- PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->FOR three years, an anonymous devotee has been secretly dropping off wads of cash every month at the Singapore Buddhist Lodge in River Valley.
Nobody knows who he - or she - is, what he does, or even how tall or short he is.
The only mark of identification is his donation: Four or five wads of folded $1,000 bills, adding up to $40,000 or $50,000 - every month.
On Sunday morning, staff at the Lodge found the contribution as the temple in Kim Yam Road opened to its followers.
As in previous drop-offs, the money lay at the bottom of the metal donation box in front of a 3m-tall Buddha statue in the temple kitchen.
Four separate bundles added up to $47,000.
The chairman of the Lodge, Mr Lee Bock Guan, said he believes the donations come from one person.
'You know it is the same person, because the notes always come in the same way, in four or five neat bundles,' said Mr Lee.
'Separate donations, the notes are usually loose.'
After three years, that is roughly $1.5 million in cold, hard cash - a big-hearted amount, more so in this recession.
A small security camera eyes the donation box but Mr Lee said the Lodge has no plans to discover the mysterious donor's identity.
He said: 'The donor could have written a cheque. By donating in cash, he prefers to be unknown.
'We thank this person but will not try to find out who he is.'
The Singapore Buddhist Lodge serves more than 1,000 free meals daily and up to 6,000 on weekends.
It spends $210,000 a month on its daily buffet and plans to spend more, as more people come forward for financial help. This year, the group also increased its education bursary budget from $1 million to $1.2 million, even as its donations have dipped by about 20 per cent. It has about $10 million in reserves.
:p
