Derek Ong – 2022 SG Silent Hero

In some parts of the world, people go hungry. However, in some other parts of the world, there is an abundance of food and wastage. The uneven distribution of food is a problem everywhere. Recognising this, Derek Ong, along with his wife Janet, started Food Rescue Sengkang (FRSK) in 2019 to address this issue.

What started as a modest effort among family members and friends, during the COVID-19 period, has grown into a movement involving 80 volunteers with beneficiaries being low-income families and others who had lost their jobs.

Derek has arranged for unsold food such as bread, meat, vegetable, dairy products, dried food and cannot food that have not expired to be collected from restaurants, mini-marts, supermarkets, and bakeries to be collected daily. Some of these products may not be presentable to displayed on shelves and as such they may have ended up in the bins. FRSK estimates that it rescues about 15 to 20 tonnes of edible food weekly.

Their tagline is “feed the people, not the bins.”
Non-food items such as diapers, bedsheets, pillowcases, detergents and toiletries are also collected.

Collected items are then redistributed to needy families and to charities. According to FRSK, about a few hundred people in rental flats or low-cost housing and in aged homes drop by the central collection point at Thanggam to collect the items on a weekly basis. The money that they save on food purchases can then be used for other purposes like medical costs, to pay for utilities or children’s needs.

Welfare organisations that have benefitted from the food distributions include Sunlove Abode Home for Intellectually Infirmed Ltd, Jamiyah Food Bank, Man Fu Tong Welfare Society, Ju EngHomefor Senior Citizens, Lions Clubs Singapore, Sri Lankaramaya Buddhist Temple.