SINGAPORE: A durian stall in Yishun gave away more than 1,000 free durians to the elderly in just one and a half hours. This initiative, which was done for the fourth time already, was attended by more than 500 senior citizens.
The 43-year-old stall owner expressed that it was a way to give back to the community. The stall owner admitted: “I have prepared 1200 kilograms of durians, about 1000 in total. All senior citizens over 60 years old are welcome to come and take two, one Musang King and the other a premium variety.”
The owner also thanked the wholesalers for their help and support, stating that all the durians given were worth about $10,000.
A reporter from Shin Min Daily News arrived at the area and discovered that many elderly had arrived several hours in advance. There were at least 200 senior citizens lined up, and the line was stretching all the way to the adjacent HDB block.
In an interview, a 71-year-old retiree was fourth in line and shared that she arrived at around 3pm. The elderly woman said: “There are three people ahead of me, they arrived even earlier. This is my first time getting durians, and I’m very happy to get free durians.”
There were also volunteers on the site to maintain order and to distribute numbered tickets to prevent people from cutting in line. The volunteers then led the senior citizens to the durian stall in batches, ensuring that they did not block the walkways of the HDB block.
However, it was still observed that some senior citizens cut in line and walked directly to the stall to get the durians. When they were told they had to fall in line, they left. Furthermore, some of them requested to select the durians themselves.
Due to the large number of senior citizens present, the stall owner ended up distributing more than 100 durians.
“About 500 to 600 people came to collect them. Near the end, we found that we didn’t have enough durians, so we brought out some more, but each person could only take one.”
All the durians were successfully distributed past 7pm, but they received comments that some were dissatisfied because they could only get one durian. The issue was resolved after the owner explained the situation.
“This is an event to spread love and bring joy to everyone, and we don’t want anyone to be unhappy.”
In similar news related to durian stalls, there was a news article about a fight between a new worker and a veteran staff member at a durian stall in Ang Mo Kio ended with both men arrested and another man taken to hospital.
A concerned citizen said he saw a lot of police officers at the scene, and learned that it was a fight between the employees of a durian stand.
Read more about the story here.
