Budget 2021: Volunteers set up pop-up grocery booths in housing estates in a bid to prevent food wastage

• Madam Azlina Ahmad opened a pop-up grocery booth at a public housing block in Bedok in August 2020
• She observed that food donations were at times not well-distributed among beneficiaries living in public rental flats
• Her booth allows residents to donate items they do not need in exchange for the ones they do
• This initiative has since expanded to be a monthly affair in three other housing towns

SINGAPORE — When visiting a woman who lived alone in a public rental flat, Madam Azlina Ahmad stumbled upon a pile of rice packets cast aside in the corner of the unit.

She later learnt that the woman had received several food hampers from various volunteer groups, but the woman did not have anyone to share these gifts with her.

This inspired Mdm Azlina to open a pop-up grocery booth at a void deck of a public housing block near her home in Bedok in August last year, so that residents in the neighbourhood may donate items they do not need in exchange for other items they do. The booth is a five-minute walk away from her own flat.

She thought of the idea after observing that food donations were at times not well-distributed among beneficiaries living in public rental flats.

Mdm Azlina, a 40-year-old front-of-house manager at a performing arts venue, said: “Some end up receiving too much while some are not receiving enough. By sharing what we have, we can minimise food wastage.” 

This initiative has since expanded to be a monthly affair in three other housing towns — Yishun, Tampines and Macpherson — and it has received funding from Our Singapore Fund.

This fund was launched by the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth to support meaningful projects by passionate Singaporeans to meet social and community needs.

Such initiatives are welcomed by the Government, whose focus for this year’s Budget is on how Singapore can come out of the Covid-19 crisis stronger, in the hope that various groups may forge partnerships to meet the challenges ahead as one people.

Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat announced in Parliament on Tuesday (Feb 16) several measures to help Singaporean households.

They include a one-off GST Voucher special payment of S$200 for eligible lower- and middle-income Singaporeans, as well as Community Development Councils vouchers of S$100 each to be spent at heartland shops and hawker centres.

This is being done to thank all Singaporeans for their "sense of solidarity" during the pandemic and to continue to support heartland businesses and hawkers, Mr Heng said.

He added that the Government will also continue to provide more support for the vulnerable in society, including lower-wage workers and people with disabilities.

Mdm Azlina was thankful that while the pandemic has affected her job, it has not taken a toll on her income.

“Because of this, I want to share my blessings with my neighbours and pay it forward,” she said.

Mdm Azlina and her fellow volunteers received government funding of S$10,000 for the pop-up booth in October last year, which covers 80 per cent of the cost of running the operations for a year.

The volunteers also pour in a few hundred dollars in total of their own money each month to pay for logistics and miscellaneous fees.

These expenses usually come in the form of transportation to collect food items donated by volunteers, residents and members of the public, or to rescue vegetables from the Pasir Panjang Wholesale Centre and the neighbourhood wet market.

To ensure every resident who visits the booth gets to take home a food item, Mdm Azlina said that she puts a limit to the number of items they can take.

“Some residents have this mentality that if they give a certain amount, they can also take back the same amount. But at the booth, we urge them to take responsibly and depending on the amount of donations we get that week, we put a limit to the number of items they can take,” she said.

To date, the response has been overwhelming and residents queue up soon after dawn to get their hands on the weekly offerings.

Mdm Azlina hopes that the initiative will spread across different housing estates and is heartened whenever individuals ask if she would take it to their neighbourhoods.

“Since they would know the residents in their neighbourhoods more than I will, I always suggest that they start it. I will support them in the first few pop-ups before they can run it on their own,” she added.