There’s Now a Pay-As-You-Wish Café in Bukit Batok By Seniors for Seniors

By
Venkataraman Gunasellan
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Who doesn’t like hipster cafes?

From its unique aesthetics to its over-priced fare worthy to of your Instagram feed, we all love them, don’t we?

And now, there is truly a hipster café in the west.

Nestled in Bukit Batok, this café is run by seniors for seniors—it also follows the pay-as-you-wish concept.

If this isn’t hipster enough, I don’t know what it is.

Now, this concept is no stranger to Singaporeans—Annalakshimi Restaurant is one of them. We just won’t know how well it’ll work.

It opened its door last Friday (6 October) at the Youth Powerhouse, located at Bukit Batok West Avenue 4 (oh gosh, so close to our office!).

Reach Community Cafe in Bt Batok West

The Reach Community Cafe at Block 417, Bukit Batok West Avenue 4, may look like a hipster cafe. But it will cater to a different crowd every Friday morning. Find out why. http://str.sg/4C54

Posted by The Straits Times on Friday, 6 October 2017

According to The Straits Times, this initiative is funded by Reach (a charitable organisation that offers community services to families, youth, and seniors) and a Ministry of Health programme called City for All Ages.

Dr Amy Khor, Senior Minister of State for Environment and Water Resources, and Health told The Straits Times that the concept of the café was inspired the Japanese concept of Ibasho Café.

Just to give a little context, Ibasho Café is run by senior citizens and it was built to strengthen bonds among the community in northern Japan after a massive earthquake and tsunami.

To quote Mr Spock’s phrase…Fascinating.

This is definitely a great initiative for seniors, giving them a leadership role and a sense of purpose, especially the ones who live in solitude.

The thought of grandmas and grandpas in cafes, chitchatting over a hot cuppa (or maybe kopi-O siu dai) served by senior citizens truly makes me smile.

Image: livingly.com

While the there is a chance for people to abuse the pay-as-you-wish concept, Mr. Ivan Ho, a Reach staff member, and manager of the senior citizens programme at Bukit Batok, mentioned that while he acknowledges the possibility, the main objective is to encourage senior citizens to come out of their houses and interact with others.

“So far, the response has been positive and most people who come have donated a sum of money when they leave. We also interact with the patrons to tell them about the purpose of the cafe and so on, so they don’t take it for granted.”

Let’s not ruin this one good thing for the seniors.

Those who live in the west, your grandparents have a new hotspot to lepak!

And hotspot means a cafe, not a Wifi connection.

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This article was first published on goodyfeed.com

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Featured Image: YouTube (Straits Times)

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Venkataraman Gunasellan
Email: [email protected]