Volunteers often go to great lengths to help people in need. Similarly, Singaporean volunteer, Siew Yian, wanted to donate a mattress to the needy under her organisation Keeping Hope Alive.
Thing is, queen size mattresses typically costs up to a few hundred dollars if you get them from a store.
Hence, Siew Yian went on a search on local shopping site Carousell. Fortunately, she chanced upon a Carouseller giving away his mattress for free.
Unbeknownst to her, the mattress was already torn and tattered — basically it looks completely different from the picture on Carousell.
Shocked by her discovery, Siew Yian took to Facebook urging Singaporeans to check our items thoroughly before giving it up for donations.
Let’s take it back to the day she decided to purchase the mattress.
Siew Yian decided to look for a mattress on Carousell and found a seller giving a queen-sized one away for free.
Upon finding out, she was excited to have it collected and delivered to the old folks in need.
And after speaking to the Carouseller, he even volunteered to donate a few more mattresses to the needy.
Hence, on Thursday (9 Jan), she eagerly paid $80 for movers to have the mattresses delivered from the Carouseller’s place at Ang Mo Kio to the old folks living in Geylang Bahru.
However, upon arriving at Geylang Bahru to check on the mattresses, Siew Yian was horrified to discover that the mattresses were already torn.
It looks like the kind of mattress that’s ready to be thrown away.
When Siew Yian removed the bed sheets, she was greeted with torn and dirty looking mattresses.
Just look at how the cushion is peeking out and how dirty the mattress looks.
Furious, she even said,
(These mattresses) should not be donated; they should be thrown away.
And that was exactly what she did.
What upset her even more was the fact that she wasted $80 on arranging for the mattresses to be delivered, just to have them thrown away at the rubbish chute at Geylang Bahru.
She also felt angered that the 2 movers wasted their effort or as she described “sweat” to move the mattresses all the way from Ang Mo Kio.
Further down her Facebook post, Siew Yian noted that incidences like this happen almost all the time at their organisation.
Even though people always offer to donate their furniture for free, they would be reluctant pay for the items’ delivery.
Hence, most of the time, volunteers would have to fork out money from their own pockets to pay for the transportation fees.
That aside, though some volunteers are willing to pay for the items to be delivered, most of the items turn out to be in very poor conditions. She lamented,
It is really a waste of valuable resources.
She even noted that the organisation often receive “disintegrated” chairs, broken cupboards, and even mattresses with bed bugs.
This leaves Siew Yian with the need to remind Singaporeans to check your items thoroughly before giving them up for donation.
If you wouldn’t use an item in such poor condition, is it fair to give it to someone else?
Siew Yian also added that for those who wish to donate your items, it would be great if you could help in the delivery process as well. Because to her,
True kindness means being kind to everyone, including the volunteers who sweat for you to dispose your unwanted items.
Remember, don’t treat these organisations as a rubbish dump for you to dispose your unwanted items for free.
Featured image adapted from Facebook.
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