SINGAPORE - More than 700 people living in Housing Board rental flats received gift bags on Saturday (Jan 29) as part of district-based programmes that will see about 9,300 gift bags distributed ahead of Chinese New Year next week.
In two separate events organised by North West and South West community development councils (CDC), volunteers from various organisations, including Sage Counselling Centre and Select Group, gave out food and other daily essentials to residents.
In Woodlands, residents got to pick and choose 12 items to fill their bags under an event that is a collaboration between the North West CDC and Woodlands grassroots organisations.
The event was held outside Store@Woodlands at Block 852 Woodlands Street 83, where an initiative by the Woodlands branch of the PAP Community Foundation allows residents to pick nine items for free every month.
At the event, residents filled their own goodie bags, choosing from a range of over 50 categories of items, which included cereals, milk powder, and household products such as toilet paper.
Retiree John Lee, 64, who lives in the nearby rental block 806, told The Straits Times in Mandarin that being given such a choice is ideal. Mr Lee, who has lived there with his sister since 2018, said this system helps him get the things he really needs, like vitamin C tablets.
MP Mariam Jaafar, who represents the Woodlands ward in Sembawang GRC and was involved in the establishment of the community minimart project, was at the event.
She told The Straits Times that it is important to give people the dignity of choice.
"Sometimes you get the sense that people feel people (who need assistance with necessities) should just take whatever they are given, but I've never believed that. Being able to choose your things makes you feel a lot better and reduces wastage," she said.
Saturday's event was the last in a series of giveaways across the North West CDC, which saw about 7,300 families receive gift bags.
Minister for National Development Desmond Lee, who was speaking at a similar event organised by South West CDC in Boon Lay on Saturday morning, addressed the state of social services surrounding rental flats in Singapore.
He said: "In the future, rental housing will come with the assurance of coordinated social support."
As at 2020, about 52,000 households lived in rental flats under various HDB rental schemes, of which about 50,000 households fell under the Public Rental Scheme.
In Boon Lay, Sage Counselling Centre - which provides counselling services to the elderly - worked with volunteers from various organisations including the CDC and Nanyang Technological University to pack and distribute about 2,000 bags containing items such as rice and surgical masks to residents in one or two-room flats in the area.
