Woodlands 'blessing booth' moves to permanent storeroom after safety notice from town council

[UPDATE, May 21]

The 'blessing booth' at Marsiling has found a permanent location.

In a statement released to media on May 21, the Marsiling-Yew Tee Town Council stated that a community storeroom has been found for the resident-led initiative, which offers up pre-loved items to residents for free.

The storeroom is located on the second floor of 185A Woodlands Street 13.

In a Facebook post on Friday (May 20), Senior Minister of State for Defence and Manpower and MP for Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC Zaqy Mohamad commended the effort to find a "win-win solution" and also lent a hand to move the items to the new storeroom. 

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Said resident Fitri Azura Selamat, who started the booth: “The move to the new storeroom is really a big deal for me. This community-helping-community effort is really wonderful, especially with the new storeroom space.”

Her team of four volunteers comprising her neighbours will work with her closely to manage the new storeroom.

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Woodlands 'blessing booth' temporarily stops accepting pre-loved items after safety notice from town council

A 'blessing booth' set up at Block 185A Woodlands Street 13 has been told to downsize or face removal after a letter was sent by Marsiling-Yew Tee Town Council to the resident, notifying them that the booth was obstructing common property. 

Fitri Azura Selamat, the resident behind the Blessing Booth, made a post on Facebook last Tuesday (April 26), showing a picture of the letter from the town council. She appealed for donors to stop sending their pre-loved items to the booth. 

"This is such sad news but I understand why they need us to remove [the items]. This is also for the safety of my fellow neighbours in case any unforseen circumstances happened on our floor," she wrote. 

The 30-year-old has been running the booth since September last year, outside her unit on the 21st floor. Members of the public can donate their pre-loved items for anyone to pick up for free. 

When it first started, the booth had also earned the praise of Marsiling Yew-Tee MP Zaqy Mohamad for being a "wonderful initiative".  

However, during this festive period, many people had come forward to donate their pre-loved items, Azura told Shin Min Daily News. They ended up accumulating outside her home as she had no time to sort through the items. 

Azura's post attracted comments from many netizens who expressed dismay at the news. Several also tagged Marsiling-Yew Tee Town Council in the comments and asked if it was possible to keep the booth. 

In a comment on the same post, Azura clarified that the blessing booth was not going to be removed, but instead downsized to reduce the clutter along the corridor. 

The Marsiling-Yew Tee Town Council also responded that they have been working with members of the Residents' Network to explore alternative storage areas for these items.

They added that an available store at the void deck with CCTV surveillance had been identified and proposed, but would require shifting "all items from the common corridor area of level 21".

"While we support this great initiative and would like others to continue benefitting from it, the safety of our residents is of utmost importance to us," they explained.

claudiatan@asiaone.com