Free ‘cook-it-yourself’ scheme serves Hong Kong elderly and lifts their spirits
Non-profit group hands out fresh food ingredients for some 600 people on society’s margins
Receiving fresh food twice a week for free, Ng Sau-lan can now enjoy more nutritious meals and a better social life with her friends.
Every Wednesday and Friday, the 91-year-old grandmother visits a centre operated by non-profit social services group Haven of Hope to collect a pack of fresh vegetables and meat good for two to three meals.
“Sometimes there are carrots or cabbages and pork or chicken,” said Ng, who lives alone in a Tseung Kwan O public rental flat. “Before, I didn’t have a diverse choice of food when I had to buy by myself.”
Fond of cooking hairy gourds with vermicelli and dried prawns, she saves around HK$50 each week thanks to the free food. What she saves she spends for an outing of dim sum with her friends – a luxury she said she seldom enjoyed in the past.
Ng relies on around HK$3,000 in monthly social security and is among the elderly people being helped by the group’s “Food Pack with Love” programme. Since 2011, the scheme has given out fresh food to underprivileged people aged 65 or older and those living alone or with a spouse who is in frail health.