Campaign: One Person, One Good Deed; Doing Good Together, Thriving Together
Tzu Chi Jing Si Aphorism:
Drops of water make a river; grains of rice fill a basket. Do not refrain from doing a good deed just because it is small.
By Wang Jiahui / jiahuio@sph.com.sg
Photos by Cai Zhenhong
After volunteering to distribute surplus bread, a 14-year-old secondary school student took the initiative to contact more than 10 bakeries to donate their unsold bread. He successfully persuaded two of them to join the donation drive, so that more surplus bread could be distributed to people in need.
Shin Min Daily News and Tzu Chi Foundation (Singapore) are jointly running the “One Person, One Good Deed; Doing Good Together, Thriving Together” project. It is supported by Tong Seng Produce Pte Ltd, the company behind the SongHe fragrant rice brand. Readers are invited to help uncover good deeds around them, to create more awareness of these acts of kindness. This issue’s nominee is Toh Yu Xuan, a Secondary 2 student from Catholic High School.
Toh started volunteering last year with local charity, Food from the Heart’s “Bread Run” programme, as well as Willing Hearts’ cooked-food distribution service.
After joining Bread Run, Toh thought that if more bakeries came on board, more unsold bread could be given to people in need while reducing food waste. He therefore took the initiative to email more than 10 bakeries, inviting them to join the programme. Two eventually responded.
He studies in the day and delivers bread at night
Since end-October last year, he has set aside about an hour almost every week to collect and deliver bread. He goes to school in the day, and at about 9pm takes public transport to bakeries that are about to close. He collects the day’s unsold bread and delivers it to designated beneficiaries such as nursing homes or distribution centres. As bakeries donate whatever is left over, Toh sometimes makes a wasted trip; at other times, he receives as many as six large bags of bread.
Last Wednesday, Toh delivered bread to Singapore Cheshire Home. Beneficiary Anton, aged 50, said he gets to eat the donated bread about twice a week. The bread comes in different flavours, with kaya, butter or raisin fillings. “Thank you all for lending a helping hand and letting us know that society has not forgotten us.”
Vinayagan, aged 38, said he knew bread was delivered regularly. Although he had never met the group, he was very grateful to them. Seeing that Toh, who delivered the bread, was only 14 made him even more pleasantly surprised.
“Not every 14-year-old would think of us and be willing to lend us a helping hand.”
Asked why he wanted to do good, Toh said: “I feel very blessed, so I want to share it with more people. If I have children in future, I will teach them to do the same.”
Caption: At about 9pm, Toh Yu Xuan goes to bakeries that are about to close to collect bread, then delivers it to designated beneficiary organisations or distribution centres.
Caption: Toh Yu Xuan (centre) delivering bread to Singapore Cheshire Home.
He pays out of his own pocket to give out apples, with encouraging notes
Once, while Toh was distributing hot meals to seniors in Bukit Batok, a kind-hearted member of the public who saw him wrote in to Stomp, praising him for buying apples with his own money to give to the seniors, along with encouraging notes.
Explaining why he did so, Toh said he had originally planned to give cakes, but as some seniors might have diabetes, he switched to apples. “I also wanted to encourage the beneficiaries to face life more positively, so I attached notes.”
Good deeds need not be earth-shattering
Toh’s mother, 44-year-old Ong Hui Qi, an academic staff, said in an interview that her son has always been caring towards the elders at home. She also supports him in extending this care to the community and helping others.
She admitted that at first she thought her son was only helping to distribute food. She did not expect him to go further by contacting other bakeries to join the programme. “The whole process did not cost much money. It only required some physical effort. For a young person, it is just a small effort.”
She also thanked the school and teachers for giving encouragement and recognition after learning what Toh had done, and even publicly praising his good deed. She hopes her son will continue to keep this compassion.
Food from the Heart CEO, Lee Chai Ming said Toh has proven through practical action that doing good does not necessarily require earth-shattering feats. Everything starts with a heart that is willing to serve others and hopes his actions will inspire more young people to take part.
Nominate a Good Deed
If you have received help from a kind soul or noticed someone around you who has long been quietly contributing or helping others out of goodwill, you are welcome to recommend them to us. Whether it is a touching act of kindness or a long-term story of caring for others, you are welcome to share it.
How to recommend:
- Email to smlifestyle@sph.com.sg
- Mail to:
SPH Media Limited
1000 Toa Payoh North
News Centre Singapore 318994
Attention to:
Shin Min Daily News - Nominate via Shin Min Daily News Facebook and Instagram DM
Please indicate “One Person, One Good Deed; Doing Good Together, Thriving Together” recommendation, and include:
- Recommender’s name and contact details
- Nominee’s name and contact details
- Reason for recommendation (briefly describe what happened)
If the recommended case is selected, our reporter will contact you to arrange an interview and report, so that more people can see these heartwarming acts of kindness.
SongHe Donates Rice and Oil in Honour of 12 Good Samaritans
Every choice today — what will it leave behind for tomorrow’s self, society and environment?
SongHe chooses to start everything from goodness. Over the years, it has practised being a good person, doing good deeds and eating good rice. It not only does so itself but also encourages others to join in doing good.
For SongHe, good people, good deeds and good rice are not a slogan. They are a brand DNA tempered by time and accumulated bit by bit.
This time, SongHe will donate SongHe Plus immunity-boosted fragrant rice and rice bran oil to designated charities in the names of 12 good people from the “One Person, One Good Deed; Doing Good Together, Thriving Together” series.
Read more here: https://www.zaobao.com.sg/news/singapore/story20260909-9649832
