Where to find free meals in Singapore
The
storm of recession is blowing all over the world. As the stock markets continue
to go south and companies are tumbling the storm is blowing many employees out
of their jobs. Although Singapore is one the richest countries in Asia, there
are many poor people in its midst who cannot afford the soaring food price and
the high cost of living.
Many
of the needy are the silent workforce - foreign workers. Their salary are so
low that Singaporeans would not take these jobs. Most of their salaries are
sent home to their families or pay off up to a year's worth of debts
Help
is available for the needy. Yes, there is such a thing as free lunch in
Singapore. Some religious associations and welfare groups provide free meals.
The bills are sponsored by members of these groups and business people.
Here
are some of the places that provide free meals:
Singapore
Buddhist Lodge. The Kim Yan Road temple serves
free vegetarian breakfast, lunch and dinner from 7am to 7pm. All are welcome
regardless of their race or religion. In the queue one can find all sorts of
people, from the homeless, unemployed, foreign students, foreign construction
workers and of course some freeloaders who work nearby.
The
Central Sikh Temple. The temple in Jalan Bukit Merah
provides free vegetarian Indian lunches every day.
Nativity
Church. This Catholic church at the end of
Upper Serangoon Road provides free breakfast and lunch every day.
The
Lutheran King of Glory Church in Norris Road, serves free meals every
Sunday to ndian workers dring its Taml service.
Buddha
Tooth Relic Temple. This Buddhist temple at South
Bridge Road provides free meal from 12.30pm to 6.30pm every day.
Tian
Tao Temple at Sengkang invites foreign workes
to its Sunday breakfast buffet.
Thye
Hua Kwan Moral Society. They
have meal centres in Toa Payoh (Blk 31 #01-663 Lor 5), Telok Blangah (Blk 3,
#01-504, Telok Blangah Crescent) and MacPherson (Blk 90, #01-103, Pipit Road).
Sri
Krisna Mandir. The Hindu religious group at No 9,
Lor 29, Geylang. serves free vegetarian food from 11am to 10 pm daily. All are
welcome.
Care
Corner Seniors Activities Centre.
The Centre at Toa Payoh, Lor 7 Blk 5 #01-131 serves free breakfast, lunch and
afternoon tea for senior citizens. (http://www.carecorner.org.sg)
Free
Hawker Meal Program. If you are a needy resident living
in Tanglin-Cairnhill area, you can apply for help at the Tanjong Pagar GRC. The
GRC, under the free Hawker meal Program provides $36 worth of meal vouchers
every month to needy recipients for a year. You can exchange the $3 voucher for
a free meal at selected food staff at some of the coffee shops in Bukit Merah
View and Henderson Road.
Sutha
Restaurant. This restaurant at Cuff Road
provides free breakfast (from 7am to 9am) and dinner on weekdays only and lunch
on Sundays. This is for stranded Indian workers in Singapore whose beds are the
concrete walkways along Cuff Road. These distressed migrants are abandoned by
their employees after their work injury or they are duped by the agents. To
qualify for the free food, participants are asked to show a Special Pass (a
govt-issued document, which means they do not have a work permit) or evidence
that they are injured / have a case pending (a letter from a doctor/lawyer plus
a work permit). It is funded by the Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) together
with One Singapore.
Lamea
Restaurant. The TWC2 provides free dinner for
Bangladeshi at Lamea restaurant at Desker Road. (http://www.twc2.org.sg)
ACMI. A Catholic humanitarian group called the Archdiocesan
Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People or ACMI,
feeds migrant workers three times a week at its premise in No 2, Highland Road.
The site is beside the Church of the Immaculate heart of Mary
(http://www.catholic.org.sg/acmi/soupkitchen.htm).
The
Migrant Workers Centre in Rangoon road provides free lunches once a
month in parntership wth neigbouring restaurants. The center is a joint effort
betweeen the NUTC and the Singapore national Employers Federation.
YWCA. Their meals-on-wheels for Elderly distributes free lunches
to needy, frail and homebound senior citizens in Banda Street, Bukit Merah
View, Cantonment Road, Holland Road, Lengkok Bahru, and Mei Ling Street.
Their
Meals-on-wheels for Children program provides free dinner for children
from Low-income families who are schooling in Zhangde Primary School, New Town
Primary School, Queenstown Primary School, Gan Eng Seng Primary School and
Beyong Social Services. For more information on the meals-on-wheels program,
please contact Ms Celest Ling at 6223 1227.
The
Willing Hearts, a secular group, distributes free food in 10 areas,
among them Ang o Kio, Bukit merah and Hougang. Call 9690-2086 for more
information.
In
these times of needs, there is no shortage of compassion from the people of
Singapore. Nobody in Singapore needs to go to bed hungry. Thankfully, nobody
starves to death in Singapore.
Sam
Choo is a freelance writer at www.articles-writer.com
(Source: http://samchoo.hubpages.com/hub/Who-says-theres-no-free-lunch-in-Singapore)