The price of durian is very low at present, due to an oversupply of the fruit from Malaysia. While some fruit vendors have resorted to almost giving away durians at nearly rock bottom prices, one vendor is literally giving them away to people. The catch: only customers aged 50 and above and who may be in lower income brackets can avail of the free durians.
Chen Yong Sheng, a durian vendor at 95 Aljunied Crescent Avenue 2 #01-29, gave away around 1,000 durians (800 kilos worth) last Sunday, July 8, including D101, D13, D24 and red prawn varieties of the fruit. Mr. Chen said, “This is an area with many elderly folks. Since this year’s harvest was abundant, I wanted to share it with them.”
On that day, people from as far away as Bishan, Woodlands and Bukit Batok formed a long line and waited their turn to get the fruit. Apparently he ran out of fruit on that day after just half an hour, and had to turn away some disappointed members of the public.
But Mr. Chen also said that he would continue to give away the fruit due to the oversupply, even giving durians away to younger people claiming to get the fruit for their grandparents, despite not having a way to verify whether they were telling the truth or not. “I’ll still give to them. Since this initiative is for old folks, I will also still try my best to give to those aged 50 and above.”
The vendor plans to keep giving away the fruit as long as he has a supply, and if they are still overabundant in 2018, he will do the same next year.
Mr. Chen’s generosity toward the elderly was noticed by many, and even earned him a spot on Channel 8 news, which he posted about in the Facebook account of his durian station