PUBLISHED ONAugust 10, 2026 5:34 AMBYKoh Xing YingFor more than a year, plastic bags filled with food and other items have been quietly appearing on the door of a HDB utility room — a small but meaningful display of community spirit.
In an Instagram post on Sunday (Aug 9), a resident shared how she first noticed the plastic bags hanging on the utility room door near the lift.
She documented the quiet practice from 2023 to 2025 in pictures, wondering at first what the bags were for.
It is not mentioned in the post where the block is.
It was not until one day that the resident's mother started hanging food there, too, explaining that the cleaner at their HDB block would take the items whenever he came by.
"On different days, at different timings, there would always be something new to notice. We never really knew who started it, but somehow, one by one, neighbours began contributing too," she wrote.
Over time, the resident said she began noticing how the items left there would change with the seasons — more traditional snacks during festive periods and certain fruits appearing when they were in season.
She added that there were even occasions when clothes that had fallen from bamboo poles while drying were left there, waiting for someone to collect them.
The resident noted that despite the door hanger eventually breaking due the weight of the items, the community still found other ways to continue the practice.
"It reminded me that community doesn't always look like grand gestures or big gatherings. Sometimes, it looks like a plastic bag hanging on a utility room door, waiting for someone to come by.
"Perhaps that's one of the most beautiful things about living alongside one another — how strangers can quietly care for each other, even without ever knowing each other's names," she said.
AsiaOne has contacted the resident for more information.
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xingying.koh@asiaone.com
