(I) Distribution at Blue Stars Dormitory

The Soup Kitchen is held on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of each month, with the exception for the months of January & May 2012:

- 4 & 18 January 2012 (1st & 3rd Wednesdays)

- 8 & 22 February 2012

- 14 & 28 March 2012

- 11 & 25 April 2012

- 16 & 30 May 2012 (3rd & 5th Wednesdays)

- 13 & 27 June 2012

- 11 & 25 July 2012

- 8 & 22 August 2012

- 12 & 26 September 2012

- 10 & 24 October 2012

- 14 & 28 November 2012

- 12 & 26 December 2012

(II)Distribution in Little India, Cuff Road Project

The soup kitchen is held every Saturday, from 12noon to 2pm, at the Isthana Restaurant (1C Rowell Road). Migrants-in-need are served lunch catered from the restaurant.

Christmas Celebration at Blue Stars on Wed, 28 Dec 2011

Dec 28th was an eventful day! In addition to our dedicated regular volunteers, we had new volunteers (Terry, Sharon with her gals, Teresa’s family and 15 Ephesians from the Church of St.Anthony) who joined us as packers for the day. From sorting of t-shirts (thanks to Michael who donated more than 1,000 t-shirts to this Christmas celebration ), slippers, biscuits, toothpaste & drink sachets to fastening the goody bags, everyone was fully engaged.

Our day was made exceptionally sweet with the arrival of the FoodEdge Gourmet truck which delivered bags and trays of delicious cakes and pastries for the migrants (thank you, Mr Singh for your donations). By 5pm, we had all the 6 cars loaded with about 1,080 goody bags and sweets (..thanks Ellery, for responding to our SOS call) and together with Father’s van , we set off for the dormitory.

The distribution was made extra special when the Ephesians "doubled" as carolers for the evening. Henry, the guitarist, led the carolers (aka the tamarind sisters) and belted out a medley of Christmas carols amidst the hustle and bustle of food & goody bags distribution. All went well until the rain came and we had to re-organize the queue. Minutes later however, the team decided to suspend the distribution due to overcrowding. During the interval, the carolers, who had been singing non-stop, entertained the migrants with another medley of soothing carols! Distribution resumed after order was restored and by 8.15pm, all 1,080 goody bags, over 800 portions of pastries/cakes, 150 packets of chicken rice & 150 packets of egg pratas (donations from Shawyn, our chicken rice sponsor) were distributed. Cheers to all!

A series of photos will be sent to you for your viewing pleasure. Heartfelt thanks to all for your loving contribution and participation.

Our next soup kitchen is on this Wed, 4 Jan 2012…and sizzling Sambar is back on the menu!

Distribution in Little India @Isthana Restaurant, 1C Rowell Rd

Meals (sponsored by United Texmac, SMTA and TAFF) served for the month of December:
3 Dec: 101 meals
10 Dec: 96 meals
17 Dec: 118 meal
24 Dec: 122 meals
31 Dec: 122 meals

Happy 2012 !

Blessings,
Janice
Mobile: 9189 3883

"We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love…"

Trinity Soup Kitchen – Expenditure (28Dec2011).xls

Am pleased to bring you an update on our last soup kitchen distribution.

Distribution at the Blue Stars Dormitory on 23 Nov 11

"How much water to put into the rice cooker?" "Hmmm..aggar-aggar (rough estimate) la.." – this had been the "rule of thumb" when we cook 20kilos of rice and each time, we had varying degrees of "success". On Nov 23rd, we had the most fluffy and "serve-able" rice ever..thanks to Kim, who for the first time had to cook so much rice and did it with flying colours! Yes, our days of "aggar-ration" are over!

We served 380 bowls of sizzling Sambar with well-cooked rice, 100 packets of chicken rice, over 100 pastries/curry puffs from FoodEdge Gourmet, 450 hard boiled eggs and distributed 500 coffee sachets, 100 packs of bread buns and 410 bananas. Cheers to all !!

Our next soup kitchen will be held on Wednesday, 14 December 2011.

Christmas Celebration at Blue Stars on Wed, 28 Dec 2011
Come Dec 28th, our very own santas and santarinas will gather to pack 1,000 Christmas goody bags for the migrants. Once again, depending on the availability of funds and sponsorship, we hope to provide the migrants with items on their wish list – food items such as instant noodles/2kg rice, cookies, bread buns and personal items such as bath towel, toothpaste, prickly heat powder and toothbrush.
If you would like to sponsor any of the items, please give me a tinkle . Thank you .

Distribution in Little India @Isthana Restaurant, 1C Rowell Rd

Meals (sponsored by United Texmac, SMTA and TAFF) served for the month of November:
5 Nov: 121 meals
12 Nov: 111 meals
19 Nov: 129 meal
26 Nov: 118 meals

Keep well & God Bless.

Best,
Janice
Mobile: 9189 3883

"We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love…"

Trinity Soup Kitchen – Expenditure (23Nov2011).xls

Am pleased to bring you an update on our last soup kitchen distribution.

Our volunteers had many "SOS" moments on 9 Nov (calling "911" )…
With all 100 kilos of vegetables laid out and the clock ticking away, our "cutting crew" was short on volunteers – an hour later, "rescue" came in the form of: a smiley granny with her three grandchildren (..the last time we saw them was a year ago!) and Jacq (welcome back) who "kidnapped" her friend from the airport to our soup kitchen….
While in the kitchen, a gas leak was discovered in one of the cylinders – Esso Gas, the supplier, was called and came to our "rescue"…; then our month-old giant rice cookers mysteriously "broke down" and had to be "revived"…

We had 7 volunteers in the evening and it was all hands on deck. We served a total 389 bowls of sambar with rice, 100 packets of chicken rice, 450 hard-boiled eggs and distributed 100 packets of bread bun and 500 coffee sachets.
Heartfelt thanks to all our hardworking volunteers ..a Blessed day it was despite the "SOS" moments !

Our next soup kitchen will be held this Wednesday, 23 Nov 2011.

Distribution in Little India @Isthana Restaurant, 1C Rowell Rd

Meals (sponsored by United Texmac, SMTA and TAFF) served to-date for the month of November:
5 Nov: 121 meals
12 Nov: 111 meals
19 Nov: 129 meal

Keep well & God Bless.

Best,
Janice
Mobile: 9189 3883

Trinity Soup Kitchen – Expenditure (9Nov2011).xls

Am pleased to bring you an update on our soup kitchen distribution.

Blue Stars Dormitory on 12 Oct 2011

What a breezy day it was! Compared to other days when an hour in the kitchen = 2 hours of hot yoga, Oct 12th was exceptional for our chefs – cloudy day with soothing breeze – just the perfect day to be in the kitchen!
The "breezy mode "continued till later in the evening at the dormitory. The crowd was thin in the beginning with just a few migrants in the queue. Our volunteers, who would normally be "scooping and serving" non-stop for an hour, had time to rest and chit-chat on a cool breezy evening. All in all, we served 402 bowls of Sambar with rice, 100 packets of chicken rice, 450 hard-boiled eggs and distributed 100 packets of bread, 500 tea sachets & 410 bananas. Cheers to all!

Our next soup kitchen is on Wed, 26 Oct 11 aka Deepavali.
Instead of preparing sambar, our volunteers will roll up their sleeves to pack 1,000 Deepavali Celebration Goody Bags for the migrants. Each bag will have instant noodles, biscuits, bread buns and face towel. Thanks to the kind sponsorship from P&G (..thanks, Colin), the men will also be getting razors and toothbrushes. In addition, Shawyn Lam, our sponsor for chicken rice, has decided to increase his sponsorship to 200 packets, specially for this Deepavali celebration…Watch this space….
Distribution in Little India @Isthana Restaurant, 1C Rowell Rd

Meals (sponsored by United Texmac, SMTA and TAFF) served todate for the month of October:
1 Oct: 115 meals
8 Oct: 107 meals
15 Oct: 118 meals
22 Oct: 98 meals.

Keep well & God Bless.

Best,
Janice
Mobile: 9189 3883

Trinity Soup Kitchen – Expenditure (12Oct2011).xls

Am pleased to bring you an update on our soup kitchen distribution.

Blue Stars Dormitory on 28 Sep 2011

Sep 28th was a Blessed Day – adequate number of volunteers in the kitchen and food preparation, new volunteers who joined us and will be "regulars" for the distribution, "old" volunteers who continue to shower this mission with unconditional love and zest..and we had lotsa pastries & cakes from Foodedge Gourmet for the migrants! We have also received a total $2,400 cash donation (thanks to Fr Terence, Teresa and friends from Dimension Data . Pls refer to attached expenditure summary for details)

The distribution at Blue Stars Dormitory went well. In addition to our core team, teachers (..very youthful & cheerful bunch ) from River Valley High School, Ahsanul & son (very sweet young boy) were present to help with the distribution. In total, we served 391 bowls of Sambar with rice, 100 packets of chicken rice, over 500 portions of pastries/cakes, 450 hard-boiled eggs and distributed 100 packets of bread, 500 tea sachets & 410 bananas. Cheers to all !

Our next soup kitchen will be held on Wednesday, 12 October 2011.

Come Oct 26th aka Deepavali, we would like to prepare special Deepavali gift packs for the migrants. After an impromptu "survey" with the migrants on Sep 28th, we gathered a wish list comprising toiletries (eg. bath soap, shampoo, toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant etc), bath towels and sweet cakes. If you would like to sponsor and/or have contacts whom you could refer us to, would appreciate a tinkle on 9189 3883 . We target to have 1,000 packs of goodies.Distribution in Little India @Isthana Restaurant, 1C Rowell Rd

A total of 408 meals (sponsored by United Texmac, SMTA and TAFF) was served for the month of September:
3 Sep: 100 meals
10 Sep: 94 meals
17 Sep: 117 meals
24 Sep: 97 meals.

Keep well & God Bless.

Best,
Janice
Mobile: 9189 3883

Correction: Last e-mail report, subject matter "Trinity Soup Kitchen-28 September 2011 Distribution" was supposed to be "Trinity Soup Kitchen -14 September 2011 Distribution"…my apologies for the oversight.

Trinity Soup Kitchen – Expenditure (28Sep2011).xls

Happy 3rd Anniversary! July 2011 marked the third year of our mission and to all our volunteers and donors, a BIG "Thank You" for your loving and unwavering support.

Blue Stars Dormitory on 27 July 2011

On 27 Jul 11, we had the participation of another 5 staff from Standard Chartered and this time, it was an all-guys team ..a great boost indeed to our "man"power as they helped with all the heavy stuff !

We served 392 bowls of Sambar with rice, 100 packets of chicken rice (for the non-vegetarians), 450 hard-boiled eggs and distributed 100 packets of bread (aka "riot roti"), 100 bottled water, 500 tea sachets and 410 bananas. In all, we managed to reach out to about 600 migrants…c’est superbe!
An expenditure summary is attached for your info.

Our next soup kitchen will be held on Wednesday, 10 August 2011.
Distribution in Little India @Isthana Restaurant, 1C Rowell Rd

Meals (sponsored by United Texmac, SMTA and TAFF) served for the month of July, as follows:
2 July – 97
9 July – 102
16 July – 75
23 July – 81
30 July – 90
Total = 445 meals

Thank you & God Bless.

Best,
Janice
Mobile: 9189 3883

Trinity Soup Kitchen – Expenditure (27July2011).xls

Am pleased to bring you an update on our soup kitchen distribution.

Blue Stars Dormitory on 13 July 2011

In addition to our dedicated volunteers, our soup kitchen welcomed 5 staff from the Standard Chartered Bank. We were told that every staff in SCB has to "clock up" 3 days of community work in a year as part of their CSR program and our soup kitchen was delighted to have them in our team. It was a timely boost to our manpower as we had to cook, in addition to the sambar and rice, 450 eggs (Thanks Kwai Fong, for your sponsorship).

We served a total 369 bowls of Sambar with rice, 100 packets of chicken rice plus 120 canned drinks, 100 packets of bread (aka "riot loti"..thanks to Andrew’s donation), 450 hard-boiled eggs and distributed 500 coffee sachets and 410 bananas.
Our next soup kitchen will be held this Wed, 27 July 2011.
Distribution in Little India @Isthana Restaurant, 1C Rowell Rd

Meals (sponsored by United Texmac, SMTA and TAFF) served over the last 2 Saturdays:
16 July – 75
23 July – 82

Thank you & God Bless.

Best,
Janice
Mobile: 9189 3883

Trinity Soup Kitchen – Expenditure (13July2011).xls

Our next Soup Kitchen session is scheduled for 27th of July 2011 at 12.30pm.

Janice would also appreciate help in shopping. If you’d like to help her, she will start shopping at 11am at NTUC Fairprice Woodgrove which is opposite St Anthony’s church. To help us in our coordination, please advise if you would be able to join us this coming Wednesday, and if you’d be helping in the shopping, preparation, cooking or distribution of the meals.

For those who are joining us for distribution, please be at St Anthony’s Church by 5.45pm.

If you have friends who would like to join us, please feel free to invite them. See you on Wednesday.

Jay n IrisTrinity Soup Kitchen

Am pleased to bring you an update on our soup kitchen distribution.

Blue Stars Dormitory on 29 June 2011

Lesson from "The Missing Giant Wok" – For the past three years, our kitchen team had been using the giant wok to fry the sambar paste. Visualize this: Our chef will fry the curry leaves; add cooking oil (4 kilos), chopped garlic (3 kilos) and onions (5.6kilos). Next, add sambar powder (3 kilos) to the mix, followed by tamarind juice (another 3 kilos); the mixture is now thick and heavy; for the next 30 minutes, the mixture has to be stir fried and it is at this point that our volunteers will form a "relay" team in front of the giant wok – taking over to relief one another from the laborious task.
With the giant work missing from the kitchen, we resorted to using a mini wok ..and what a gem!! With a smaller wok, we prepared the paste in 2 separate rounds and yes, what a breeeeeze!! No more strained muscles!!

The distribution in the evening went well. We served a total 389 bowls of Sambar with rice, 100 packets of chicken rice plus 120 canned drinks (sponsored by from Shawyn, our donor) and distributed 500 tea sachets and 410 bananas.
Our next soup kitchen will be held this Wed, 13 July 2011.
Distribution in Little India @Isthana Restaurant, 1C Rowell Rd

Meals (sponsored by United Texmac, SMTA and TAFF) served over the last 2 Saturdays:
2 July – 97
9 July – 102

Thank you & God Bless.

Best,
Janice
Mobile: 9189 3883

Trinity Soup Kitchen – Expenditure (29June2011).xls