PUBLISHED ONJune 15, 2026 7:30 AMBYEsther LamA coffee shop in Geylang was hit by theft after an employee forgot to take the donation boxes indoors, resulting in more than $20,000 being stolen overnight.
The incident occurred in the early hours of Sunday (June 14) at a coffee shop in Blk 134 Geylang East Avenue 1.
Zhu Yunping (transliteration), a 72-year-old who runs the Kwan Tzi Zhai Vegetarian Cuisine stall, told Shin Min Daily News that there were 10 donation boxes in front of the stall.
The proceeds go to various organisations such as the Buddha of Medicine Welfare Society, Chung Hwa Medical Institution, Singapore Buddhist Free Clinic and the National Kidney Foundation.
Each box will have $2,000 to $3,000 when they are full, and the charity organisation is notified to collect the donations, said Zhu.
She told the Chinese newspaper that she felt a great responsibility and felt sad and upset after the incident as it involved donation boxes from multiple organisations.
Zhu, who is also known as sister Ping, said that the employee closing the shop that night was feeling unwell and had forgotten to keep the donation boxes inside which resulted in the theft.
She received a call at 4am on Sunday that all 10 donation boxes had been stolen.
In response to AsiaOne's queries, the police said they were alerted at about 5.30am to the incident.
A similar theft took place 10 years ago when tens of thousands of dollars in donations were lost.
After that incident, Zhu installed a fence and spent close to $3,000 customising an opaque stainless steel donation box.
She suspects the theft was premeditated, noting that the thief moved within the CCTV cameras' blind spots.
She added that the coffee shop was closed during the incident and that CCTV cameras installed at her stall and neighbouring stalls were blocked by the shutters.
"I don't understand why someone would steal even charitable donations. We've always been very careful, but we were careless for just one day, and it was all stolen," Ping said.
She added that her employee felt very guilty and kept apologising as they never expected this to happen.
"This is a considerable amount, and I hope the case can be solved soon, otherwise I won't be able to explain it to (the charitable organisations)."
AsiaOne understands that following the incident, the coffee shop operators are considering not displaying the donation boxes at all.
Police investigations are ongoing.
[[nid:737494]]
