Willing Hearts founder an inspiration to many

Willing Hearts founder Tony Tay

I congratulate Willing Hearts founder Tony Tay (above) on his recent award (S'pore food-sharing pioneer bags Magsaysay award; July 28).

I was a volunteer at the Willing Hearts soup kitchen and saw him at every session monitoring the volunteers.

However, I never knew who he was.

What he has been doing is inspiring. He has influenced us, the volunteers, to learn the joy of service.

His organisation is accessible to the public, especially first-time volunteers, because of its flexible schedule that allows people to come and go at any time.

Willing Hearts' mission is to provide daily meals and other support services to the underprivileged, the needy, and other marginalised members in Singapore, and to assist and guide them towards rehabilitating and reinstating themselves as useful members of our society.

It is a simple mission but it has resulted in the organisation reaching a huge audience.

Willing Hearts has helped me become more socially aware and to realise that there are a lot of people in our society who are underprivileged and marginalised.

I encourage more people to take the time to volunteer at organisations like this or make donations.

Even something as simple as packing food can be of much help, and has the potential to affect someone positively.

Chang Zhun Lyn (Miss)

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on August 07, 2017, with the headline Willing Hearts founder an inspiration to many. Subscribe