More than 120 people, including Singaporeans living overseas, wrote in to offer help after reading about 17-year-old Loh Miao Xin and her family in The Straits Times.
First-year polytechnic student Miao Xin had shared that her mother was jobless, as the coronavirus outbreak had put the Thai hawker stall her mother was working at out of business. The family of three – including younger brother Khim San, 12 – live in a one-room flat in Bedok.
Many readers wanted to donate to the family directly, while others offered to link Miao Xin’s mother up with job opportunities.
As of 19 April 2020, her family had received more than $10,000 in donations.
Miao Xin said: “We managed to clear my mum’s $5,500 debt from a previous hospital bill – it is a huge relief. My mum is really happy.”
Her mother is going for an interview for a job at a Thai eatery on Monday, after a reader wrote in about the opportunity.
The family plans to donate about $5,000 to The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund (STSPMF).
“I feel like there are people who are more in need than me now, and they deserve more. I would like to ask people to donate to other charities to help other people as well,” said Miao Xin. She and her brother are also beneficiaries of the STSPMF.
Read more here.
Source: The Straits Times, 18 April 2020