I'm always looking out for my neighbours'

About 200 families with school-going kids have received food since May 2023

- Theresa Tan

Mother of five Marlina Yased knows what it is like to go hungry and have no money to put food on the table.

So she does not want any of her neighbours living in highly subsidised HDB rental flats in Lengkok Bahru to go to bed hungry.

The 46-year-old started a community fridge initiative offering free food, such as vegetables, frozen meat and seafood, to her neighbours in need.

About 200 families with schoolgoing children have received food from the community fridge, which is placed outside her two-room flat, since the initiative started in May 2023.

From linking them up to free medical services and courses to equip mothers with work skills, Madam Marlina has, over the past few years, organised various programmes for her neighbours.

Her latest initiative: a healthier instant noodle cooking competition that was held on July 13.

She said that instant noodles is a staple food for many of her neighbours as it is cheap, filling and easy to prepare, and she wants to encourage those around her to find ways to make the dish healthier.

Madam Marlina works as a community worker at a social service agency, but is volunteering to help her neighbours, such as through the community fridge project, of her own volition.

"I'm always looking out for my neighbours. I would feel uneasy if I know my neighbours go to bed hungry," she said. "My motto is: more we, less me." Her empathy is borne from her darkest days after her divorce more than 15 years ago, when the former factory worker was so broke that she could feed her children only rice with a fried egg drenched in sweet soya sauce on some days.