Pay it forward: Buy an extra $3.50 meal in advance for the needy at this coffee shop

Photo: Rain Kooh/Facebook
Photo: Rain Kooh/Facebook

One netizen recently drew attention on social media to a generous Belanja-A-Meal initiative at a Bukit Batok coffee shop. Basically, all you have to do is belanja (“treat” or “pay for” in Malay) an extra meal in advance for the underprivileged when you’re ordering your own food — and it’ll set you back a mere S$3.50, aka the cost of one bubble tea drink.

The stallholders will then give you a colored magnet, and you can stick it on a board that offers options for Indian, Malay, and Western cuisines, as well as specific dishes such as mixed veggie rice, fish soup, chicken rice, prawn noodles, and seafood.

The pay it forward community project at De Tian Coffee Shop in Block 265 Bukit Batok East Avenue 4 is run in collaboration with Bukit Batok East Zone 2 RC. And before you ask how hawkers will recognize the needy recipients, only beneficiaries identified by the Residents’ Committee can redeem the free meals.

Photo: Rain Kooh / Facebook

It’s a pretty straightforward way to make a difference in someone else’s life, and to cultivate the spirit of giving and helping others.

Of course, this isn’t the first initiative of its kind to pop up. Back in 2013, one altruistic Singaporean named Michelle Tan-McGuire started the ground-up Chope food for the needy campaign, which called for kind souls to pre-pay for packets of food for the disadvantaged at hawkers all over the island. The community effort, which soon went viral and spread to Kuala Lumpur, was meant for hawkers to make the judgment call on the intended recipients.

But when Tan-McGuire tragically passed away in 2015 after a year of fighting brain cancer, the initiative lost traction over time. However, it’s heartening to see her spirit of neighborly compassion live on in efforts like Belanja-A-Meal.




BECOME A COCO+ MEMBER

Support local news and join a community of like-minded
“Coconauts” across Southeast Asia and Hong Kong.

Join Now
Coconuts TV
Our latest and greatest original videos
Subscribe on
preload imagepreload image