PUBLISHED ONJanuary 02, 2026 7:44 AMBYEsther LamAn elderly man in Boon Lay welcomed the new year in a cleaner and safer home after his bedbug-infested flat was decluttered and revamped in just six hours.
On Dec 28, charity organisation Helping Joy assembled over 40 volunteers to carry out cleaning at a three-room unit at Block 185 Boon Lay Avenue.
The team spent around six hours, from around noon till 6pm, decluttering, cleaning the floors, repainting the walls and repairing the peeled ceiling, reported Shin Min Daily News.
They also installed a new toilet bowl and cleaned his dirty clothes at a laundromat.
Dozens of items were seen being transported to the ground floor, where they were sorted before being loaded onto a lorry for disposal.
In a Facebook post the next day, Helping Joy posted a series of photos celebrating the accomplishment, thanking the volunteers and donors for their contributions and support.
The charity also thanked Minister for Education Desmond Lee for "helping out despite his busy schedules".
He was spotted in a few photos along with the volunteers, helping to carry black trash bags and household items.
The charity had made a Facebook post on Dec 18, calling for volunteers to help in a major decluttering project at Boon Lay Avenue.
It highlighted the situation of Uncle Lee, whose full name is Li Huanzhong (transliteration), a 74-year-old who lives alone and relies on a personal mobility device (PMD) to get around.
The post said: "His living environment is cluttered and bedbugs infested. Due to his limited mobility, he needs assistance to help clean and declutter his home to ensure a safer and cleaner space for him to live in.
"Let's come together to help Uncle Lee to have a bedbug free and cleaner living environment."
AsiaOne has reached out to Helping Joy for more information.
Speaking to Shin Min, the resident said he realised last year that his PMD was "full of bedbugs", after staff discovered them during a physical examination, reported Shin Min.
At the time, he had bedbug bites all over his body but has since recovered.
He added that after his 98-year-old mother died three years ago, many of her belongings were left in the unit which added to the clutter.
When asked about the house transformation, the elderly man told Shin Min that he is grateful and admired the volunteers for their hard work.
He said: "I'm really grateful to them. They are very hardworking and really amazing. They were able to clean the whole house spotless in half a day."
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