From the ST online forum:
MY MOTHER lives in Block 31 Toa Payoh East in a flat meant for senior citizens under the administration of the Thye Hua Kwan welfare organisation. I understand caretakers posted to the centre on the ground floor are meant to ensure the welfare and safety of the elderly residents, as well as distribute public donations fairly to those in need, but I regret this superior care is not what my mother has experienced.
First, on the issue of welfare. On one occasion, a drunken stranger parked himself right outside my mother's door. She asked management to call the police, but they insisted she settle the matter herself and insisted she went back up to use her own phone. While it was eventually resolved, this not the way a charity should function. That is only one of numerous occasions on which the elderly were made to feel neglected. The operator also criticised my mother to her face, in English (which she does not understand), and we found out only later from the maid who understood.
On the issue of donations, I hope resources will be allocated equitably to those in need. However, my mother often tells me donations in kind, such as food, are distributed according to the whim and fancy of the centre's operators, with leftovers discarded, which leads me to wonder if those in need actually get them. Furthermore, my mother has also witnessed the centre throwing away an item of donation, new and unused, in a spurt of temper.
Those are only a few incidents, and isolated ones. Perhaps we should re-examine how charities are run to ensure, if nothing else, the hours our children spend fund-raising do not go to waste.
Hopefully with my rich complaint-rebutting experience, I won't be called upon to rebut this. I'm not very good at arguing; I just always happen to be right. Don't think I can argue this.
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