Another Week Beyond – 2409

Comms Team Another Week Beyond, Community, food insecurity, Volunteers

Community offers the promise of belonging and calls for us to acknowledge our interdependence. To belong is to act as an investor, owner, and creator of this place.  – Peter Block Yesterday, lunch for 22 neighbours was prepared by our members of our community, at our premises with the harvest from our very own vegetable garden. While it was not quite a harvest festival celebration, it was nonetheless a joyous occasion. We were commemorating the end of an 8-session programme-cum-pilot study to explore the positive effects of urban farming on the physical and mental well-being of those aged 50 and …

Another Week Beyond – 2402

ek kiat Another Week Beyond, community, food insecurity, Volunteers

When Covid-19 was at its peak and we were busy coordinating food drops, some of us wondered aloud if those who were able to grow their own food would also be anxious about not having enough to eat. In 2021, we were made aware of the SG Eco Fund which support projects that advance environmental sustainability and foster community, and we thought that offering people an opportunity to grow their own food would be a good way to transform a community’s anxiety and concern about food insecurity into constructive action that strengthens community ties. Today we have a vegetable garden …

Another Week Beyond – 2320

Comms Team Another Week Beyond, Community, donations, food insecurity, health

Dear Friends, Together with some neighbours, Marlina leads a community health initiative in their neighbourhood called Healthy You & Me. They are constantly reaching out to their neighbours with information on affordable healthcare services and inviting them to activities that promote a healthy lifestyle. In their conversations, they also convey that good health is not attained at clinics or hospitals but comes about from what one does to stay healthy. In the process, they hear for themselves what really matters to people. 2 months ago, Marlina told us that she had 2 ideas that would be helpful for her neighbours. One was …

Another Week Beyond – 2138

Comms Team Another Week Beyond, food insecurity

Dear friends, We were much heartened that more than 640 persons viewed our online presentation on Food Insecurity and Food Aid in a Public Rental Neighbourhood. Even if one is hunger-free, one can be food insecure as food insecurity is defined as “the inability to acquire an adequate quality or quantity of food in socially acceptable ways, or the uncertainty that one will be able to do so”. In Singapore, those affected experience “intermittent food insecurity and hunger, rather than abject poverty and starvation”. Hence, food insecurity in Singapore can be described as situations where a person: has just about …

Another Week Beyond – 2135

Comms Team Another Week Beyond, food, food insecurity

Dear friends,  While we support and facilitate food distribution exercises, we do not regard ourselves as a food aid agency. However, because of the pandemic, we distributed 96,117 cooked meals and $818,740 worth of supermarket vouchers last year. Spread across 20 different neighborhoods, our members received a cooked meal at least once a week and up to 5 times when it was really needed. It was not much and whenever we could provide a little more, it was always welcome. The situation was disturbing and so we embarked on a study to better understand the nature of food insecurity and food aid …