Singaporean of the Year finalist: Leaving a well-paying job to unburden hoarders

SINGAPORE – Mr Steven Goh was standing at a pavilion waiting for a client when an elderly woman approached and asked him if he could come by her house and have a look.

“I was curious, so I followed her home,” said Mr Goh, 47, who was working as a financial planner at the time.

That encounter 13 years ago would change the course of his life in ways he could not imagine.

He found the woman’s place overflowing with metal junk. She had once made a living as a karung guni, collecting scrap to sell, but age and illness had caught up with her and she could no longer manage the hoard alone.

“I told her I could find some volunteers to help. And things started rolling from there,” he said.

That evening, he reached out to his friends, but was turned down by all of them. Undeterred, he put up a post on Facebook.

Four strangers responded, and together they cleared the old woman’s home.

Profoundly affected by the difference they were able to make, Mr Goh founded the charity Helping Joy soon after in 2012 and invited his four new friends to volunteer their time and services to help other old people in similar situations.

Today, one of them works full time at the charity as a centre manager. Another, who currently works in delivery, still volunteers with Helping Joy. The remaining two stopped volunteering in 2014 due to their family and work commitments.

Making the switch to clean homes full time

Helping Joy took off soon after it was set up.

As more and more homes were referred to it by social workers, grassroots leaders and several care facilities, Mr Goh found it difficult to juggle his work and the cause to which he had committed.

In 2016, he quit his job and focused his attention on the charity.

Mr Goh is a finalist for The Straits Times Singaporean of the Year award, which is given to a Singaporean or group of citizens who have made a significant contribution to society.

This can be through achievements that put Singapore on the world stage, or by going beyond the call of duty to selflessly improve the lives of others in the community, among other ways.

Now in its 11th year, the award is organised by The Straits Times and presented by UBS Singapore.

Leaving his job meant giving up financial security, but Mr Goh felt he needed to work for a cause greater than himself. He has been divorced since 2014 and has a 14-year-old-son.

He said the salary he earns as the co-founder of Helping Joy is comparable with that of an executive manager. Though a far cry from what he earned as a financial planner, he is satisfied with it.

“As long as I am able to self-sustain, I don’t need to live in luxury. At least I learn things that others don’t have the chance to learn, and I am able to make friends,” he said.

Decluttering homes is a complex process

A single decluttering session can take six to eight hours.

Apart from the time taken to get to know the beneficiaries and understand their living conditions days earlier, Mr Goh and his team have to map out how many volunteers they require to get the house cleared out in a day.

They will also need to raise sufficient donations – $3,000 to $5,000 – to replace faulty electrical equipment and broken furniture. Handymen and painters will also have to be called in to make the house suitable for living.

Also, when items are removed from a home, they cannot just be tossed into a bin.

“We need to open up every little trash bag with cockroaches, and sort it out. Even those with bedbugs or filled with dust,” said Mr Goh, adding that items that are serviceable need to be shown to the residents to receive permission to discard them.

“Every item is valuable to the beneficiary. It might seem not valuable to us, but it might be something memorable to them,” he said.

One such beneficiary is Mr Lee Han Tiong, 76, whose home in Boon Lay was cleaned by the charity in 2025.

Divorced with one son, Mr Lee had been living with his mother until her death three years ago at the age of 98. Over the years, the flat became increasingly cluttered as his mother kept old magazines and household items.

For more than a decade, Mr Lee also struggled with a worsening bedbug infestation, leaving him with frequent bites. Mobility issues made him reliant on an electric scooter, but even that became infested, forcing him to discard its cushion.

“There were too many bedbugs, it was very scary. I had no choice but to throw my things away,” he said.

Mr Goh and his team first visited Mr Lee’s home in late 2025 to declutter the flat and remove infested items. They will be returning later in January for further treatment.

The charity also provided Mr Lee with essential items, including a refrigerator, washing machine and clothes.

Expressing his gratitude to the team of about 40 Helping Joy volunteers that transformed his home, he said: “I was very happy to see them clean my house.”

Mr Goh does not just stand aside to supervise, he gets involved in any way he can.

Be it washing toilets, battling an infestation of cockroaches, removing faeces and bottled urine from a home, or even hauling bulky items to the ground floor.

Hoarding, as Mr Goh has learnt, is a habit shaped by trauma, fear and loss. Helping Joy teams go back to households they have decluttered for cleaning and check-ins, slowly building trust.

“We show our love and care because once they find that there is someone to rely on, eventually they will part with things they hoard... Something new takes its place, which is our love and care,” he said.

Showing care beyond the home

After a house is cleaned, Mr Goh and his team continue to support beneficiaries through the final stage of their lives.

This includes providing funeral services for those with no family.

“We cannot just say when they die, it’s not our problem. That’s the last journey of their life, and we want to ensure that we take care of them all the way until the end,” said Mr Goh.

Be it a simple wake or a religious rite, Helping Joy fulfils these requests, even collecting bodies from hospitals when there is no next of kin to do so.

“It is like a proper farewell, and closing the chapter with those we have helped,” said Mr Goh.

Work that he would never give up

Since 2012, Helping Joy has decluttered over 300 homes and provided support to more than 800 elderly people. Its operations are funded solely through donations.

When they fall short, at times Mr Goh and his team have to spend their own money.

The charity now employs seven staff, and has amassed a pool of about 200 committed volunteers.

“We are blessed that we have this group of volunteers that has been with us for many, many years. We would not be able to do what we do without our volunteers and donors. It is teamwork,” Mr Goh said.

Through his many experiences decluttering homes, Mr Goh believes hoarding is a growing problem in Singapore, especially with an ageing population.

“I can’t stop… If I do, who is going to continue to take care of them?” he said.

“The best part of my job is when beneficiaries thank me from their heart because that is something that money cannot buy.”

Singaporean of the Year award

The Straits Times Singaporean of the Year award is given to a Singaporean or group of citizens who have made a significant contribution to society. This can be through achievements that put Singapore on the world stage, or by going beyond the call of duty to selflessly improve the lives of others in the community, among other ways.

International Impact award

The award seeks to honour a Singaporean or Singapore organisation that has made a positive impact beyond our borders, contributing to Singapore’s global reputation.

The person or organisation must have delivered a project, initiative or body of work that benefited a community or country outside of Singapore.

Young Singaporean of the Year award

The award seeks to recognise a Singaporean who is under 18 years old and has shown courage, compassion, empathy, kindness and/or a spirit of service, and has made a positive impact among peers.

The awards are organised by The Straits Times and presented by UBS Singapore. The official airline partner is Singapore Airlines, and the global hotel partner is Millennium Hotels and Resorts. 

Prizes

Singaporean of the Year award

• $20,000 in cash for award recipient

• One pair of Singapore Airlines business class tickets for each individual/group; up to three pairs of tickets for the winning group

• A five-night stay in any of Millennium Hotels and Resorts’ properties globally, up to a maximum of three sets of accommodation for the winning group

• $5,000 in cash for each individual/group finalist

• One pair of Singapore Airlines economy class tickets for each individual/group; up to a maximum of three pairs for each group of finalists

• A three-night stay in one of Millennium Hotels and Resorts’ properties globally, up to a maximum of three sets of accommodation for each finalist

International Impact award

• $20,000 cash for award recipient

Young Singaporean of the Year award

• $5,000 in cash for award recipient

• A pair of SIA economy class tickets

• A three-night stay in one of Millennium Hotels and Resorts’ properties globally