Willing Hearts and Helping Hands Willing Hearts, a non-profit organisation dedicated to providing 3,000 hot meals daily to the less fortunate, seeks volunteers who can help cut, cook and clean. A willing heart touches many Willing Hearts started 10 years ago by Tony Tay, 66, an ex-businessman. He was struck by the living conditions of those who lived in street corners and those who had to pick off leftovers at hawker centres just to have a meal. It was then that Tay decided he would start a soup kitchen providing food for the poor. Charles Liew, 61, treasurer of Willing Hearts, speaking on behalf of Tay who wasn’t at Willing Hearts the day we visited, said, “We don’t have enough money to give. People will want more and more. Food is the easiest to provide. When people are not hungry, they won’t do things that cause problems to society.” Tay set about preparing hot meals in his home kitchen. As word got around and more friends and relatives started to volunteer their time, the operations expanded and Willing Hearts moved from Tay’s home kitchen to a church, then to a halfway house, and finally to the Cideco Building where it is located today. Willing Hearts is looking to move again. This time to a school in Geylang Serai. The kitchen will be located at ground level, which is logistically more convenient compared to their current location on the fourth floor of the Cideco Buildling. The goal will then be to produce 10,000 packets of hot meals daily. For that, Willing Hearts will need about 150 volunteers every day. If you think 10,000 packets of hot meals is a substantial number, here’s a hard truth we learnt from Liew: “There are another 20,000 to 25,000 people who require meals in the whole of Singapore.”
Posted on: Wed, 21 Aug 2013 21:37:13 +0000
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