If you thought our church’s Level 2 Events Hall was taken over by a flea market several Sundays ago, you wouldn’t be far off the mark.
Long tables formed an open square in one corner of the hall, covered with cans and cartons of food. Next to it stood racks of dresses and shirts, counters piled with sportswear, pyjamas and toddler clothes, and finally tables of catered food. You would also have seen many church members – including our pastors – engaged in long conversations with unfamiliar faces.
That was True Way’s first Clothes & Food Drive, a non-evangelistic project to serve less-privileged Queenstown residents. Everything on display was free to take home.
While the giveaway took place on 31 May, outreach and collection efforts kicked off two weeks earlier. This brought together dozens of church members of different generations who served as donors and packers as well as door-to-door flyer distributers and befrienders.
The project was the brainchild of Alvin Chia, Emma Lee and Felicia Chua. Young adults Emma and Felicia are passionate about conservation and creation care. They have successfully led clothes swap events for True Way members since 2024.
As you might expect, at first the swaps mostly attracted young ladies exchanging preloved clothing, but the enthusiastic response later saw the events expand to include free children’s clothes and menswear.
This year, the two women decided to take a bigger step to reach out to the wider Queenstown community. They wanted to reach less-privileged folks outside the church with a free clothes giveaway.
When they pitched the idea to Alvin, he embraced it – and added food to the list.
Alvin said: “Why not food as well?”
“My mum was always busy with community involvement projects after she retired,” said Felicia about her late mother, Mdm Lisa Goh Lay Choo. “She worked with food, telling me stories about how she would rescue ‘imperfect’ fruits and vegetables that were discarded but perfectly edible. She served with a local food bank called Food from the Heart, and I was inspired.”
The trio got to work, eventually focussing on two groups of people. “We had twin objectives of both benefitting the Queenstown community and fostering church participation,” explained Alvin.
After discussions with Queenstown Community Centre and Hao Ren Hao Shi (好人好事), a non-profit organisation that distributes free groceries to the needy, they identified six blocks of rental HDB flats where they would launch a publicity blitz.
Hao Ren Hao Shi means “good deeds by good people”.
Then they trained and sent out 50 YZers (YouthZone members) – both students and discipleship group leaders – to distribute flyers door-to-door.
Their timing was serendipitous from a theological perspective. When the project took shape around April, YZ had begun a series of messages on evangelism and service. This dovetailed seamlessly with the mission.
“It’s only right that the youths were given proper teaching and taught the biblical principles first before the application and being called to serve,” said Alvin, “Many of our youths have never reached out to anyone before. This gave them a new experience and opportunity, even if it’s just to step out of their comfort zone and inform people about a giveaway at our church.”
To provide guidance, adult volunteers accompanied the youths as they went door to door on 17 May. YZer Gng En Ya, a Secondary Two student, admitted that she was initially very nervous about knocking on strangers’ doors. But after the young adult accompanying them demonstrated what to do for the first few units, she and her partner felt more confident and took over. She said, “Overall, the experience was quite eye-opening for us. While we faced quite a few rejections, most of the people who opened their doors were quite open and took the flyer.”
She added, “One part of the evangelism talk was about us being the planters of seeds and letting God do the rest. Even though we were not sharing the gospel, I felt relieved knowing that all we needed to do was to share about this event. Then we let God do the rest to bring people here.”
Organiser Emma described how it felt seeing her 18-year-old YZ discipleship group girls stepping up to the task: “This was the first time for many of them. I was encouraged to see how they supported each other and gave freely of their time and energy to the residents!”
The Queenstown residents came from diverse age groups. Some talked easily while others were awkward. But all received love and welcome.
Meanwhile, the donations were piling up outside Room 206.
Over a few weeks, church members dropped off items after the 8.30am Sunday service or before the 11am service began. More people brought clothes instead of food, but whatever the donated item, organisers and volunteer sorters applied strict criteria to ensure that everything met safety and cleanliness standards.
The team gave clear instructions about donated items: no underwear, no socks, no shoes, no school uniforms with school badges, no missing buttons, no bad zippers.
In the two weeks leading up to the giveaway, the team decided to increase their food stockpile. To do this, they appealed for financial donations through the volunteer signup form.
“We had a limited budget, so we asked members to consider donating funds. This was another opportunity to be a part of the work. It showed there are many ways one can contribute to gospel work depending on what one has,” said Alvin.
The young adults’ clothes swap is not the only platform church members use to reduce clutter and bless each other. Betty Tan, a mum-of-two, is a volunteer administrator behind an informal “TWPC Freecycle” church chatgroup where young parents list preloved items for giveaway and arrange meetups for collection. She was also one of many members who donated clothing for the clothes and food drive. While both addressed sustainability, she saw that the young parents’ group and the church giveaway served different needs.
“The giveaway targets needy families whereas Freecycle is focused specifically on young families. Freecycle started because we felt our kids’ clothes and toys could be more efficiently passed to another family who specifically requested them, and we could hand items over conveniently on Sundays. Both parties would also be more comfortable if they knew who they were meeting,” she explained.
She added, “I always appreciate people who have the heart and energy to plan these events because a lot goes on in the background. In my opinion, what to do with the twice-unwanted items can be a headache!”
Anticipating this, Alvin, Emma and Felicia made prior arrangements with Hao Ren Hao Shi to receive leftover food for their free minimart. Whatever clothes remained would be given to the Salvation Army, ItsRainingRaincoats – a Singapore charity supporting migrant workers – and Nightingale Thrift Shop at Queensway. Nightingale supports needy families and individuals with autism. Said Felicia, “Aunty Florence from Nightingale told us it was very timely because the shop was running low on men’s clothing, and it looked like we will have a lot!”
31 May came. After over an hour of arranging tables, food and clothes, the official giveaway began at 1pm. The team was initially unsure if many church people would turn up, but more than twenty True Wayans, from university students to those in their 60s showed up as hosts, befrienders and helpers. Everyone came with a smile, eager to lend a hand.
Over two hours, around 25 residents visited. The organisers had planned for 70. However, they were not disappointed.
“I think it went great!” said Emma. “Although 25 may not be a big number, we managed to chat with many of them for an extended period of time and got to know their stories. And I believe we were able to bless them as well.”
For her, the day’s highlight was seeing acts of love and enthusiasm such as several befriender “aunties” tirelessly searching for, and personally giving, clothes of suitable sizes and styles to two little shy boys who came with a family member.
She also said it was good to see the pastors and young adults engaging unfamiliar visitors in long conversations.
"One day you may be in need yourself, and I may be the one who can help you in return."
A visitor
One young adult was Phoebe Lim who sat with a Malay Muslim woman. Phoebe said, “She was shy at first but later warmed up to the three of us over fried beehoon and pandan cake.
The woman told her new friends that she was in her late 50s, that she has children and grandchildren. She said that though she took the flyer, she hesitated about coming. She felt it was not easy for a Muslim person to come into a church.
She asked, “Why does it have to be hard? I think it is right for people to help others. Who knows, one day you may be in need yourself, and I may be the one who can help you in return.
“I have heard of Muslim kids getting bursaries from Chinese temples. This is a good thing. I believe people should help each other!”
Phoebe also got to know a Indian mother-and-daughter pair over food and learned that despite visiting churches before, they did not understand the gospel.
“I was glad we had some time with them. I think they got to hear a bit more about who Jesus is.”
Alvin echoed the same sentiments, explaining that many volunteers later shared that the smaller-than-expected turnout enabled them to have more time chatting with the people who came.
He said, “It was very clear that the residents came from very different backgrounds with very different needs. In their perspective their immediate need was material things, not God. This was their reality and I’m glad we were there to help them.”
This was the reason why the team did not push for an upfront evangelistic angle. They wanted the giveaway to help people at the place where they felt their need. No strings, no conditions.
In the miracle that Jesus performed with five loaves and two fish, we sometimes forget a second, equally important point. Jesus moved quickly to feed the crowd who had followed him because he saw they were hungry and tired. He understood their need. For that moment, there was no need for a parable or a sermon or a sign-up.
“We also thank God for the favour we enjoyed with the community centre and the NGOs,” Alvin said. “They were not awkward that they were partnering us, a church. In fact, they were very happy to work with us. They gave advice about this and even future projects since they have worked with many different organisations. We’re happy to be a touchpoint to connect with and serve the Queenstown residents.”
When the giveaway ended, many church people came to help pack, clean and load what remained into waiting cars which would deliver the humble items to other centres. Lifting up people in need is love.
A volunteer who had attended TWPC for only a few months, commented, “I signed up for this activity because I find the people here very friendly and not pushy, Today I saw that they were also very real, welcoming and kind.” She asked that her name not be published.
Indeed, Felicia reflected later how, in a wonderful coincidence, the event’s goals mirrored the recent church camp’s message. In the last message of the camp, speaker Dr Leow Theng Huat exhorted the church to invite others to “come and see” the love and fellowship of the Trinity, as it is lived out by the church.
She said, “We met a lot of people who have never been to church, or left their former churches because they felt unwelcome. We want them to see we’re a community who loves them in Christ. Just like Dr Leow’s message, we want them to come and experience the care and love of this community.”
Michelle Cheong is married with three children. She is part of the discipleship group, Sincerely Loving.
Video and all photography by Lee Chung Horn.
Editor-in-chief Lee Chung Horn • Subeditors/writers Joyce Peh, Soh Lay Bin, Michelle Cheong, Kevin Chua, Jakin Heng, Gracia Lee, Yang Hai Kun • Photographers Ang Li Yan, William Neo, Jimmy Ang, Ronnie Koh, Erick Kencana, Jethro Fernandez, Ho Wenxuan (intern)• Design Tony Cheung, Daniel Lim.
TOGETHER is produced up to three times a year. Current and previous issues of TOGETHER are available at trueway.org.sg/newsletters.
