SINGAPORE – As a self-described full-time “kaypoh (Hokkien for busybody) auntie”, Madam Sandy Goh Siew Hua is the one her neighbours turn to when they need help.

The part-time clerk, 55, distributes free food, organises free tuition and art workshops, and coordinates festive decorations for her HDB neighbourhood in Bedok Reservoir Road.

Madam Goh does all this of her own volition without salary or reward.

It started when she moved to the estate in 2006 and helped her illiterate elderly neighbours to read their letters. Gradually, she found herself doing more, and then formalised her roles in 2011.

For example, she set up what she calls an SOS station at the void deck of Block 702 Bedok Reservoir Road, where there are free food, toiletries and even assessment books for residents.

Madam Goh has helped to set up 18 similar corners around Singapore, with more than 50 volunteers. With donations from partner groups, she distributes food, ranging from fruits and vegetables to canned goods and bread, to about 6,000 families across Singapore every week.

She also connects those who need help with others who offer a helping hand. These volunteers, who are usually residents, may be retired hairstylists giving free haircuts, teachers offering free tuition, or tradesmen making elaborate decorations for festive occasions.

Madam Goh is a finalist for the Singaporean of the Year Award, which is organised by The Straits Times to recognise those who have made a significant contribution to society.

This can be through achievements that put Singapore on the world stage, or by going beyond the call of duty to selflessly improve the lives of others in the community, among other ways. The award, now in its ninth edition, is presented by UBS Singapore.

For Madam Goh, who first did volunteer work as a teenager, her desire to help others stems from her experience of personal hardship.

She and her husband had to sell their flat after their construction business went bust during an economic downturn in the early 2000s.

Things got so bad that the couple and their first-born child ended up having to sleep in their lorry for some time.

But they found their feet again after starting a tentage rental service.

The couple and their three children, aged 14 to 20, now live in a three-room flat, which they bought in 2005.

Having suffered and bounced back, Madam Goh wants to help others like her who have fallen on hard times.

She said: “Although life is hard, we still willingly help those who need our support and share our resources until they can get over their difficulties.”

Madam Goh is at the senior residents’ corner at Block 702 every day from 3pm till after midnight, handling everything from administrative paperwork to apply for permits for all her activities and programmes to dealing with suppliers for food distribution.

Any resident who needs help or advice can approach her at the corner.

Madam Goh also manages at least 10 WhatsApp groups of volunteers, who are mainly residents of different neighbourhoods.

“Everyone is contributing. That’s why it’s a community,” she said, hoping to foster the kampung spirit.

Madam Goh finally decided to register a society, Sharing Passion, in 2022 to bring in more volunteers and beneficiaries.

Mr Dave Ng, a beneficiary-turned-volunteer, described her as the “sun” whose all-encompassing warmth has influenced everyone around her positively.

Before meeting her, Mr Ng, now 32, faced financial difficulties in completing his university degree.

As a financial consultant for an insurance company during his university days, he was scouting the area for clients.

He would sit at the senior residents’ corner and do his administrative work, which was how he got to know Madam Goh.

One night, he told her about his struggles with paying his school fees. “She’s a very curious person. She asked me how much the school fees were and how I was coping.”

She then connected him with organisations that provide bursaries.

Throughout his university years, she never gave up on helping him get the aid he needed. “She took it as her responsibility to see this through,” said Mr Ng.

He slowly got roped in to volunteer with her, starting with filling out forms for the elderly and becoming more involved over the years. He never did volunteer work before meeting her.

It is important for Madam Goh that people not only receive but also give.

“There’s a sense of pride when they receive and also contribute,” said Madam Goh, noting that many beneficiaries do volunteer work, including the elderly in wheelchairs, who handle simple sorting tasks.

It is clear that Madam Goh’s neighbours love her.

When she was planning at one point to move out of the estate, her neighbours persuaded her family to stay.

She said: “They went to talk to my husband. When he was driving home, they blocked him in the carpark and pleaded that we not move. Some even cried as they shared their stories (on their problems and the help they received).”

Madam Goh’s dedication to helping others does not slack even when she’s unwell. A few years ago, when she was hospitalised for a heart problem, she was still on the phone directing her volunteers to help those in need.

She said: “If I stop, those people who need food will also stop (getting help).”

As Mr Ng said of her: “Her influence is viral. She’s a transformer. She transforms the community to help others.”