Community food initiative for low-income families

Going to a supermarket is a difficult chore for Marine Parade resident Shariffa Abdul Gafoo.

The 70-year-old widow, who lives alone, has a knee condition that makes it hard for her to go to the nearest supermarket a few bus stops away. Thanks to a new community food initiative in her estate, she can now pick up groceries a few blocks from her home.

Launched on Thursday, the FairPrice Food for Good Community Fridge @ Marine Terrace initiative was kick-started by FairPrice Foundation, which sponsored two new chillers and will be providing free fruit, vegetables, milk and meat worth $100,000 to 200 low-income families in the area for a year.

The products will be supplied weekly from the FairPrice stores in the area.

Madam Shariffa, who collected fruit and vegetables during the launch event, said: "As I do not have children and my family members live in other estates, it has been difficult for me to travel by myself and carry back heavy bags of groceries. This initiative is helpful because I can get fresh fruit and vegetables close to my home without worrying about the expenses."

Under the scheme, fresh produce will be delivered to Block 20 Marine Terrace on Saturdays, and a distribution drive conducted between 2pm and 4pm.

The walls and pillars of the block were adorned with art pieces created by students and teachers from Nanyang Girls' High School. They feature illustrations of fruits and vegetables as well as people bonding over food. There are also illustrations with health tips and directions to the community fridges.

The initiative is in line with FairPrice's Food Waste Reduction drive, which aims to minimise waste from unsold but edible food. Under the scheme, all such food from the FairPrice outlets at Katong and Marine Parade will be donated to the community fridges.

On Thursday, Manpower Minister Tan See Leng and FairPrice Group chief executive officer Seah Kian Peng - who are both MPs for Marine Parade GRC - gave out produce to about 90 residents.

Mr Seah noted that the pandemic has affected low-income families.

"With the Food for Good Community Fridge Initiative, FairPrice hopes the weekly food distributions will provide some relief for them and, at the same time, foster the spirit of giving and sharing within our communities," he said.

Dr Tan noted how measures such as the expansion of the progressive wage model to more sectors and of the local qualifying salary could give greater support to lower-wage workers in Singapore.

On the initiative, he said: "We hope that with this, we will continue to raise awareness on the plight of low-income families, in terms of making sure that they have sufficient fresh food.

"With the social support in place, we want to reach out to as many Singaporeans in need as possible."