For the past two months, airport transfer driver Rahim Abu Bakar has been chauffeuring unusual guests in his limousine: packaged meals.
In the morning, he loads around 50 packets of food into the black Mercedes E-Class and makes his rounds to migrant worker dormitories or rental flats, delivering the meals to beneficiaries of DBS Stronger Together Fund, an initiative by DBS Bank to donate $2.5 million worth of food to vulnerable communities in Singapore.
Mr Rahim, 61, is one of 14 drivers from limousine service company Wolero who do airport transfers for members of the DBS Asia Treasures programme.
As the coronavirus pandemic halted overseas travel, his schedule of six to seven jobs a day fell to zero in March and his income dropped by more than 30%.
Although he still received his base pay, the uncertainty unnerved him.
These concerns did not go unnoticed by the head of DBS Asia Treasures (regional marketing) Adele Tan, who started thinking of ways to keep the drivers employed to sustain their livelihoods.
“When I learnt of the Stronger Together Fund, I thought, ‘If we’re providing meals, perhaps we can deliver them too’,” says Ms Tan.
Most migrant worker dormitories have drop-off points for food, but at rental flats, the drivers do door-to-door deliveries.
As some residents live alone and may feel lonely during this period, Mr Rahim says he will “be more friendly and chit-chat with them”.
He says he is touched by the kindness the beneficiaries have shown him. For example, some will save the plastic bags from the deliveries and return them in neatly folded triangles. Mr Rahim reciprocates in his own way, like buying fruit to go along with their food.
To date, the airport transfer drivers have delivered around 110,000 meals over 1,900 trips, making up about 30% of the more than 370,000 meals donated by DBS. Other deliveries are arranged by non-profit organisations The Food Bank Singapore and ItsRainingRaincoats, which DBS has partnered for its Stronger Together Fund.
All meals are bought from 23 local food and beverage companies which are clients of the bank.
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Source: The Straits Times, 29 June 2020