Elderly Couple In Bendemeer Sleeps Without A Mattress; Volunteer Gives Them 2

Elderly Couple In Bendemeer Have No Mattress At Home

As we slog our hectic workday away, many of us would, no doubt, look forward to the sweet comfort of our bed tonight.

It’s nice thinking about that soft, cushy place to rest our worries away — sometimes even with our chou chous.

But for this elderly couple in Bendemeer, a bed, or even a mattress, is a luxury they can’t afford.

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So much so that the wife sleeps on a thin cloth, while her husband sleeps on a chair. We’re hearing tiny cracks in our backs as this sentence is typed.

Welfare volunteer’s encounter with the couple

A welfare volunteer, who serves at charity initiative Keeping Hope Alive, met the elderly couple who lives along Bendemeer Road.

The volunteer, known as Ms Lee, was having a “door knock” session to assess needs of the underprivileged — and that was when she met the couple.

She shared the story of her encounter in a Facebook post last Saturday (10 Aug). We summarise it after the jump.

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No mattresses in sight

Below is a snippet of the conversation that took place when the elderly wife opened the door.

Ms Lee: Aunty, do you need mattress?
Aunty: You are giving for free?
Ms Lee: Yes. Can I come in and see where I can place it? 

Ms Lee noted that this question was the charity’s way of assessing needs better.

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As she entered the house, she darted her eyes around to look for a mattress, but none was in sight.

Sleeping on thin ‘mattress’ & chair

The conversation continues between the 2.

Ms Lee: Aunty, how do you sleep at night?
Aunty: I sleep on a very thin ‘mattress’ and my husband sleeps on the chair.
Ms Lee: We can give you new mattress, it’s SINGLE size. How many would you like?
Aunty: One.

Ms Lee, who shared that she was crying inside upon realising this, said she took her paper and pen, and wrote “TWO” mattresses for the couple instead. 

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Judging from the state of their crib, we’d say Ms Lee made a good call.

Keeping hope alive

Ms Lee ends the post with a poignant message,

We just do what we can, We do what is within our power. We give from our heart, We count our blessings that we have something to offer.

If this story inspires you to serve more families like this elderly couple, you can check out Keeping Hope Alive’s Facebook page.

According to Ms Lee, they have activities every Sunday at 7.30am.

Planting seeds of kindness

As Ms Lee aptly crystallises her thoughts, we meet all kinds of people in life — both the good and the bad. But we shouldn’t allow a couple of rotten apples in the basket to discourage us from doing good.

For the elderly couple in Bendemeer, we hope their literally backbreaking nights of sleeping without mattress have come to an end.

It’s unclear how they ended up in such a sorry state, but with Ms Lee’s help, we’re positive that they can sleep a lot better now with 2 new mattresses. Thank you, Keeping Hope Alive, for keeping hope alive for the couple.

Featured image adapted from Facebook and Google Maps.