Former non-constituency member of parliament Yee Jenn Jong has been keeping himself busy on the ground by ensuring that unsold or leftover food, vegetable or fruit that are still safe to be consumed do not go to waste.
Over the weekend, he was out on the road making sure the foods that are prepared by the volunteers get to the intended destination to be enjoyed by the residents.
“This morning (Saturday), I collected cookies and cakes baked by Judy Zhou, our lead volunteer for Marine Terrace food distribution. These are her gifts to recipients at Eunos Crescent, where we have a similar daily food distribution,” said Yee.
This initiative started about two and a half years ago and Yee explained that those at Marine Terrace had given items to those at Eunos, and when there were excess items collected at Eunos, they also passed on to those in Marine Terrace.
But those are not the only places that Yee is delivering or collecting food items from, and at times he learns a thing or two from the volunteers on how they made use of the excess fruit.
“Now that we have started vegetable distributions at other locations, I sometimes get items from other locations as well. Last evening, one of the ICs for our point at Blk 113 Bedok North visited me with a banana cake his family had made from the donated bananas which they distribute every Sunday,” added The Workers’ Party member.
“I found that excess bananas would be turned into banana cakes or goreng pisang, which they sometimes benefit their immediate neighbours too.”
Yee had forged a close friendship with the volunteers over the many months they spent together on the food rescue sessions. When he learnt about the passing of his volunteers’ partner, he took the time to pay his respect.
“We share items, joyful moments and sorrows too. This week, the husband of our lead volunteer at Kaki Bukit had passed away,” shared Yee.
“Despite her husband being very ill for some years, she continued to be an active community volunteer. The week before, she saw to our evening vegetables distribution before sending her husband to the hospital. He later slipped into a coma and passed away whilst in hospital. Met Faisal Manap, the local MP, at the wake.”