StorHub supports TOUCH Community Services’ Meals-on-Wheels initiative for elderly residents of Toa Payoh

On 28 Aug 2023, StorHub participated in a TOUCH Community Services initiative, Meals-on-Wheels (MOW), and 19 of our volunteers who showed up that day managed to have food packets hand-delivered to a total of 171 households from Lorong 1 to Lorong 8 in Toa Payoh! TOUCH Community Services is a nonprofit charity organisation in Singapore and a member of the National Council of Social Service since 1994 that looks after the needy as well as underprivileged people in our local community.

The islandwide meal delivery programme is designed to cater to the needs of elderly who are home-bound and is done on a daily basis. All our StorHub volunteers helped with the packing and distribution of meals in the Toa Payoh region. The task started off with our volunteers reporting to the TOUCH Home Care (THC) office to pick up, pack and sort 171 food packets in total that had been prepared beforehand for the elderly.

TOUCH Home Care is one of the many services that TOUCH Community Services provides with frail elderly in mind, and the intention of enabling them to enjoy a better quality of life as they go about their daily activities in the community independently. Both lunch and dinner meal deliveries are made 7 days a week including public holidays across Singapore. On top of that, the meals are prepared according to specific dietary requirements and preferences such as halal, non-halal, vegetarian or even blended soft food. Distribution locations currently include Bukit Batok, Toa Payoh, Whampoa, Bendemeer, Geylang Bahru, Potong Pasir, Bishan, Ang Mo Kio and Jurong.

After loading all the packed meals onto our StorHub van and 2 other vehicles, everyone worked in groups to drop by homes from Lorong 1 all the way to Lorong 8 of Toa Payoh to deliver the food to the elderly residents living there. To keep it efficient so that the elderly could receive their food on time, our StorHub volunteer team consisted of 3 drivers with the rest taking on the role of a ‘runner’ who was responsible for ensuring that the meals got delivered to the intended group of elderly within the allocated time slot. All our volunteers who helped with the meal deliveries had a meaningful and fulfilling afternoon touching the lives of the elderly people of Toa Payoh!

Our Group Project & Procurement Director, Andrew McDonald, even expressed his heartwarming sentiments after the event. “I personally feel that the Meals-on-Wheels CSR event was a very successful one. So much so that I have already signed up to be a regular MOW volunteer in the future. I’m also hoping to involve my wife & kids as well so that my kids especially can have a better understanding of and empathise with the less fortunate, and in turn remember to count their blessings. It seemed that most of the recipients were a little surprised to see a tall “ang moh” delivering their evening meal and were evidently grateful of our small effort. It did give me a sense of satisfaction knowing that what we were doing brings direct and immediate benefit to those truly in need. The event also reminded me again that “our most valuable asset is our mental and physical health.” said Andrew.

You can make a difference today too! Find out more about Meals-on-Wheels and register as a volunteer if you want to brighten an elderly person’s day here.