Stories

For sisters Suay Peng and Suay Heng, supporting Yong-en Care Centre is more than making a donation. It is about honouring their mother’s memory and continuing a legacy she left behind.

While they do not know exactly how their mother first came to know Yong-en, they believe it was likely through neighbours in the Kreta Ayer community. Like many seniors of her time, she learned about senior activities and community spaces through word of mouth, eventually participating in local programmes where she could spend time outside the home.

She was a resilient and independent woman who spent much of her life caring for her children and building a better future for her family. After arriving in Singapore from China, she worked as a domestic helper for a British family, adapting to a new country and language with determination and quiet strength. Her daughters remember her as someone who carried responsibility with dignity, always focused on providing for those she loved.

In the late 1990s, Yong-en’s programmes centred around activities for seniors, such as exercise sessions and mahjong. Suay Peng recalls her mother regularly visiting Yong-en for senior activities like stationary cycling and other exercise sessions in the late 90s and early 2000s. The sisters also recall their mother enjoying time at a nearby Senior Activity Centre in Kreta Ayer, where she enjoyed spending time with fellow seniors and playing mahjong.

After their mother passed on, Suay Peng and her sisters felt a desire to continue something that had once been part of her routine. While they had considered volunteering, work and family commitments made it difficult to contribute their time regularly.

“I’ve been wanting to volunteer, but my sisters and I are still quite occupied with our work and personal lives,” Suay Peng shared. “Since we can contribute financially, we thought, why not?”

What began as a simple family decision has since become a yearly tradition. Together, the sisters continue to donate to Yong-en’s campaigns, quietly but consistently supporting its work year after year.

For them, every donation is more than financial support. It is a gesture of encouragement to the staff, volunteers, and community behind Yong-en, and a way of carrying forward the values their mother embodied throughout her life.

Though they may not know every detail of their mother’s connection to Yong-en, they know it mattered. And through their continued support, they hope other seniors can continue to experience the same sense of connection, dignity, and belonging that once touched their mother’s life.