“I really hope to see my mum and daughter sleeping comfortably on a nice mattress.” The voice behind this simple plea belongs to 23-year-old Suhaida Ali, a quiet, and rather weary-looking girl. As we first step into her bare, dimly lit flat, she cradles a scared-looking toddler in her arms.

Families appreciate the free mattress all the more because it’s brand new and not just an old, used donation. Indeed, Hamdan and his family treasure this mattress so much that they have yet to remove the plastic wrapping that it came in.

When this needy family received a second-hand Queen-size bed frame and mattress donation, they thought they’d been given the kind gift of a good night’s rest. But the mattress was infested with bedbugs that left painful bites on her daughters’ every night.

We made an exception this week, 2 mattresses were given to a family this week. This family was referred to us by a welfare worker from Singapore’s Children Society. Give their current situation, we agreed internally to give them 2 mattresses. Below is the brief story:

We have given away our first mattress under our Free Mattress Program. We had 7 applicants since the launch of the program on the 20th July. The applicants who were not selected could reapply for next week’s free mattress.

I would like to thank all those who had helped this program. You will be glad to know that at least 1 Singaporean’s life would be better every week…..

I would also like to thank the person who had applied on the applicant’s behalf.

Below is the applicant’s story, through the words of his friend. (I had changed the names, as I do not wish any uneccessary inconvenience brought to the applicant through this program)