BrainTeasers: Joy Of Giving And Sustainable Charity — Filiporean Project

Giving out the stuff to villagers. Image from:  Giving and Taking Free Stuff Facebook Group

You don’t have to be rich to donate. All it takes is having a little compassion and willingness to give.

—— Dickson Idlier

The “Filiporean Project” is started by Freegans In Singapore co-founder, Colin Lau. The project collects small usable items (details in posts from “Giving and Taking Free Stuff“ Facebook Group) from public donors or dumpster-dived stuff from Freegans In Singapore (FIS) and donates to Filipino maids in Singapore. The main reason is shipping cost is cheapest to the Philippines. This project has caught up in the news and media in Singapore, so more donations have been pouring in so the maids (numbered to 300) are kept very busy.  

Colin saw many usable small items when dumpster-diving around his neighborhood but has no use for them. When he found that Filipino maids wanted these items to bless their family, friends, and neighbors back in their village, he started collecting them and storing them in his spare room. Then invites maids to collect from his house. Then more and more maids wanted to come to his house to collect items but there is a limit he can support. His charity got into news and he created a Facebook group for donors to donate their items. As the project gains popularity, they started collecting big donations from the donors' house as it was feasible for the extra transportation cost (split by the maids) and more maids can benefit. Now they have 9 drop-off locations and 5 team leaders for house pickups of big amounts. 

Ukay success! Smile! 

No air is allowed! Compact packing! 

The maids collect and pack these items into big carton boxes. Then ships them back to their hometown in the Philippines. The cost of the shipment is split within themselves(maids) or from donors. These shipped items are given to their family members, relatives, or church members. Some items are sold to pay for food, electricity, funeral, medical bills, etc. Practically zero cost (except shipping and transport cost) and sustainable charity as it distributes large amount of unwanted or donated items to needy people.  

I think this is the first charity of its kind. It channels unwanted items to the people who want them. This project is very sustainable as little cost is involved in procuring items, only transportation and shipping costs. This is a win-win situation for both giver and takers. Such ideology for such charity should be more widespread.