Surprise gesture brings smiles

SINGAPORE - When 33-year-old Vero Lo went for a morning stroll with her two-year-old son yesterday morning, she was in for a pleasant surprise.

Colourful Post-it notes were pasted over the mailboxes at her Housing Board block in Woodlands Avenue 6, each with a handwritten message that thanked the residents for being good neighbours.

One of them read: "Thank you for being a kind neighbour."

The notes were signed off only with a hashtag, #LoveOthers14.

Some mail slots were stuffed with gummy bear packets.

"Never before have I experienced such a gesture, so I was a bit wary at first," said the information technology engineer.

But she changed her mind after reading the thoughtful messages. "It made my day," she said.

Ms Lo was not the only one who was taken by surprise.

On Friday, similar handwritten notes attached to cookie packets were left on the windscreens of at least 50 parked cars in Compassvale Lane, near Block 205D, according to a report on citizen journalism website Stomp.

These "surprises" have also made their way into other residential areas, such as an HDB block in Elias Road, and educational institutions.

These were Serangoon Junior College, Nanyang Junior College, Singapore Polytechnic and Temasek Polytechnic.

The gifts appear to have been given out by members of Heart of God Church, going by an online search.

Speaking to My Paper yesterday, Member of Parliament for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC Teo Ser Luck commended the movement for "promoting neighbourliness".

"It's a fun way of putting a smile on someone's face amid the hustle and bustle of living these days," he said.

Zainal Sapari, a member of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Social and Family Development, said that such initiatives go a long way in building "a more gracious society".

"Such gestures should definitely be welcomed, if what is being advocated are universal values," he said.

But the Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC MP said that the organisation in charge should seek permission from schools before carrying out such campaigns there, so as to "avoid misunderstandings", as the campaigns may carry religious connotations.

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