Feeding The Hungry, And How To Do It Better | Special Report, Part 2/2

those who struggle to over a hundred organizations hungry if they reject some people without them a beggar cannot be a chooser gain in high Oceania like this is disgusting I really don't think that we should be giving this to the hour young people one spectrum because for my food waste in our inspector you have people to change that okay Cunha is just sausages why is it so can one resist too much help I can put it actually do more harm than good many old folks find it difficult to get a meal because they are in fail health heading out by food or cooking a simple meal is more challenging than we think in Singapore they are fortunately can rely on social service agencies charities or volunteer groups like these 88 year old auntie Liu is one of them chicka chicka I poke light on your pocket don't um II talked to Tom Tom Tom don't not returnin yell out idea each time you encounter play him every Wednesday without fail she picks up for trations distributed by a temple the iterations save her a trip to the supermarket and can be used to put together a simple meal fast all good except she has too much all the same things everything you see here is accumulated over three months [Music] you can equal your Pandora you can refine your children beyond is the founder of keeping hope alive a volunteer group helping residents living in rental blocks every Sunday they give up porridge and clean up flats please how can I use the woman - no one no one the mayor opened give me one bad thing the one your whole easy to walk to me or sell offender meaning that had had a jolly arcade to Ichiro Santa - Tom quanto but until eternally it called high quantity Tom Iovino some items are unsuitable for auntie Liu as well we found sugar-laden canned fruit like these even though she has diabetes and our most shocking discovery [Music] come on tyrant that shoe Yama you start thanking over a monkey's yeah Rios Emilio according to auntie Liu old folks who reject her Asians once would have their names taken off the recipient list we reached out to the temple involved but we did not get a reply until o is not the only one who receives more than enough food bad younger brother Yan yonada bang bang - Tang hai of antenna 80 year old Uncle Ho has authorities' which greatly restricts his movement he also has diabetes he gets free daily lunch and dinner from a charity kitchen but that's not all shortly after Uncle Ho brought us up to his flat another packet of food arrived lunch from his Meals on Wheels provider so the Meals on Wheels program is run by the agency of integrated care it engages service providers to deliver subsidized meals to seniors who are referred by hospitals polyclinics and a caregivers Uncle Ho receives both lunch and dinner from a service provider which means he is receiving a total of four packets of food a day and when we dropped by over Chinese New Year we found even more food in the previous episode we saw how some Singaporeans have little choice when it comes to what I can afford to eat each day want to see what Uncle Ho has more than he can eat agent super ones Robin yeah dude are we but sunako I mean to the guy yeah yeah not a trifle how how how who sings Generosa Moe watch I who have no child hey Johnny so we track the food that alcohol received over the course of one week and asked the dietician if you were suitable for him now what you see here is a sample of the food that he got in general there is a good variety of meats and also vegetables which helps Uncle Ho get all the nutrients he needs what's missing here is actually fiber from foods he's given oranges but he doesn't really like to eat them I also noticed that uncle who doesn't have any teeth so it made me wonder if it's difficult for him to chew all these then you don't see the mobile [Music] food that steamed raised our porridge would be easier for him to eat like the cooked food that he receives the food rations do not always match his knees he was given this bag of biscuit Eanes and he has no clue why they are dead a month ago behind us a motel owner what is excessive things that are not quite suitable so if you in your macaroni and cheese and I can't give that out to say a senior citizen because they wouldn't know how to consume it so it may be fancy for food but for us it's about something as familiar to the beneficiaries clearly the food and donations that these seniors get could be improved yet they are hesitant to say anything about it in fact we always walk and his current Hanson the pooling ting angry fool Canaan High Oceania should give this group a chance I give them a choice a 15 year old Esther Lim has daily access to free cooked food from a charity kitchen that delivers to her neighborhood but after years of eating their food Esther has gotten tired of it it was your time ran through your system where money conditions here not gonna listen to you versus sad to tell Esther has tried to give feedback but it didn't go down well with the volunteers who are distributing the food every day so much wanted me in Freedonia unbeatable hockey woman in power Motel suit she cackled a knife and Jenna so you say so you can't keep doing things by giving without thinking I've seen all the hot pain from all the food wastage because we did not send what they want to eat Nisa is the founder of free food for all and they've been in the business of feeding people for six years he gets feedback from his beneficiaries regularly and while some of it can be helpful his notice that some beneficiaries can get fussy I didn't expect this at first but when I started to give them you know changed things that they don't become for then they realized that they entitled to it benefits don't wanna spin me I'm not that little one I think a lot of people I expecting a lot more from the food that they receive standard of living in general has been going up every year and I think it's only right that we also a better reach of whom as well food assistance groups are trying their best to help by why is it a some get too much while others might not have enough according to the Ministry of Social and Family Development areas with a sizeable and older cluster rental flats tend to be more well known - and thus better served by foot support organisations the flip side is that others go under soft especially those who don't live in rental flats that means there are families going hungry who aren't on anyone's radar according to our research in an Walker they are 23 blocks of one and total rental flats and at least nine food assistance providers they have people lasted between football and what I'm gonna get the addresses just like too much fun in the country so we are going to let that go or we're trying to move to another location information a lot better so that we can reduce the duplication a lot of people start all these NGOs with a very good heart they plow in the older sources they are also frequently doing good work yeah it's just that a lot of that effort also goes down maybe this elderly are already so this like five times a week twice a day I'm in Jalan kuku one of the older htps is in Singapore which estin many volunteers come in to offer help over the years volunteer switchboard is a social enterprise there's been serving the old folks and Families here for sixes they give up formations once every month a lot people ask me is over self why are you still there but when we were there we realize has a lot more issues everybody comes in as an ad-hoc kind of basis you can't really sustain any couldn't see how can you improve any program see them slowly out one group was there to just keep breath and something we realized that they are gone when groups distribute food on an ad hoc basis that's when problems like MS mesh needs also arise because there's limited understanding of the people they are feeding you know some people think that I are two tone Tony and or logistic nya ek coaching window I'm a fan now how can we back to individual needs there is the problem so ideally footpegs should be customized to different groups of beneficiaries but food assistance groups are often constrained by donations for the public for instance when people donate food that's not suitable for the elderly groups like the food banks Singapore have donation drives that allow the public to chip in but some items have to be rejected there's no expiry date there's no label and it's like obviously open so we do not we are unable to accept our two nations because due to for safety reasons anything that's open contaminated with air you know it's not very safe don't need this yeah it's open yeah half train border expired 19 expired providers of cooked meals to are constrained by circumstances people receive the food with Li complaints about taste why the same thing people come they give me using willing hearts has been cooking and delivering meals to the needy since 2005 they sometimes there's a season for the flooding in Malaysia so we don't get so much green vegetables so leaving Chinese cabbages for many days but however they're still Chinese cabbages to eat right every day ruling has delivered 6500 news to beneficiaries Island right but because they are shot of volunteers they can only deliver meals once a day in the morning and that includes both lunch and dinner occasionally we do hear of it that people do not know how to store them nicely or eat them have again the future like I said if there's possibility of more volunteers coming or organizations then we could have certain early afternoon as well but for now that's that's what best we can do feeding a hungry is clearly a complex issue but the food assistance groups have ideas on how to give better moving forward one of the proposed solutions to food insecurity is to look at the other end of the spectrum food waste we have all the food that we need we waste a lot of food and we're physically this doesn't make sense can we eliminate all the people who are physical example just by working together to be teachable SG foot rescue is a ground-up group that collects unsellable produce from markets and wholesale centers every week they can collect five to seven hundred kilograms of fruits and vegetables part of it is given the charities such as beyond social services and free food for all [Music] every food rescue also helps to stock 7 community fridges in Singapore those in need can select fresh produce from these fridges more food assistance groups are also looking to vary or improve the food rations given to their beneficiaries going stop seniors at the singsong nearby you see what's in him by what [Music] after talking the beneficiaries volunteers which bought me a couple of changes to their foot packs in the past they gave three in one coffee packs but then they notice that all folks prefer using condensed milk not sugar to sweeten the coffee so they replace the three one coffee with cocoa soul and condensed milk also not every senior can finish a huge can of science in one go so to avoid waste volunteers to each pot gives out these single serving cans instead and then we are awesome do you use every item ever and they will say I don't eat this you take it back which is great because it will promote less food wastage as well meanwhile Esther recently started receiving customizable foot packs from her foot rations provider as well [Music] which is also the taco super you seem insecure instead of being dependent on volunteers some beneficiaries are now able to get their food rations anytime from foot bangs vending machines which allow beneficiaries to purchase at least 25 items a month with store credits topped up for them in a cash card touch Community Services has also partnered with delivery riders to bring meals to beneficiaries in the Meuse on Wheels program and then there's this they've come in a box of 36 meals you can see that our savory dishes like buttermilk fried rice and lentil and then even dessert these really come in handy because they don't have to be refrigerated so they won't spoil if you keep it for long and you can eat it straight out the pouch with or without warming up ff8 mirza came out of this idea so that beneficiaries can enjoy more variety and volunteers only need to make deliveries one for money so it serves a particular need those who can't cook those so a non ambulance those who are elderly those living alone but even bigger things go to bring the think tanks into the sitting room discuss trash it out there's a new task force in town involving several ministries food assistance groups and food rescuers they are finding a way to allocate resources better to help those who are food insecure and this starts with building trust and collaboration among the groups well come together explore ideas exchange views and they were able to better coordinate among ourselves when it comes to the making of the money supply distribution sourcing Crawford so MSF has been a facilitator this is whole process many NGOs are organically driven by granite and they develop their own purpose of existence and quite a number of them could be very different and they had some conflict as well so one of the key objective the workgroup is let's drag the silo thoughts and then think about ways we can synergize our output hello you have any bread what could also be a game-changer a Good Samaritan Law which might be proposed this year hotels restaurants and other food businesses will then be able to donate excess food to a good cause with less worry about liability while we are waiting for all this to happen here's what we can do April April 20-21 right it's pretty good like four months left on the expiry date on the shelf life and then you know still good condition all right no rust no then so I mean careful is fine but you know we can have more like mushrooms you know more vegetables rather than just a bunch of meat more things that make a difference in their lives are a child comes back from school and see there's a food drive in their school what do you do do you open up your pantry and take out what your child doesn't want to eat and donate it or do you take the items that old you know my child enjoys this and I think another child would enjoy them if everyone plays our part I think we would be very happy to collect the food and just boot it out and I think the benefices will be very happy to receive them [Music]

Channel: CNA Insider

Views: 571,788

Keywords: CNA Insider, Channel NewsAsia, People stories, Asian perspectives

Id: dLVSKx8Wl70

Length: 19min 54sec (1194 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 18 2020