On Wednesday (Dec. 2), a Facebook post about a blind, elderly man selling biscuits at Redhill late at night went viral on Facebook.

Local vegetarian hawker stall Mummy Yummy, which is known for their socially-conscious business model, reached out to the elderly uncle to offer him assistance with meals, and shared more information about him.

Member of the public drove elderly man home

A member of public Tony Tan shared on Facebook on Wednesday that he had seen the elderly man — who has since been identified as Mummy Yummy as "Grandpa Lim" — selling biscuits in Redhill late on Tuesday night.

Initially, Tan had thought that Lim lived in the area and offered to drive him home.

However, despite the late hour, Lim continued selling his biscuits, as he hadn't yet run out of stock. Eventually, Tan decided to buy all of his biscuits, so that Lim could get home early.

It turned out Lim lives in the northern part of Singapore, quite a distance away from Redhill.

While Lim initially rejected Tan's offer to drive him home, as he said he could take the bus instead, he eventually relented under Tan's persistence.

Tan added in his post that Lim normally sells biscuits around Orchard Road and Redhill, and urged others to help the man out if they happened to see him.

Mummy Yummy helping to provide him meal assistance

In a Facebook post on Thursday (Dec. 3), Mummy Yummy wrote that they visited Lim at his home after being alerted to the viral post about him by Tan.

While Lim originally declined the food stall's offer of meal assistance, he agreed to try their lunches after they told him that he should not walk around so much due to leg injuries that have not yet healed.

Mummy Yummy wrote in the Facebook post that Lim had tripped over a tree trunk a few months ago while out selling biscuits, and was hospitalised for five weeks as he needed hip implants.

The 70-year-old became blind when he was only 10, after suffering from childhood glaucoma, according to the post.

He used to work as a telephone operator, and is currently living off of his CPF Retirement account savings, which should last him until he is 84 years old.

So to earn some extra income, wrote Mummy Yummy, Lim goes around selling biscuits in the Redhill and Orchard Road areas.

He heads out to sell after dinner around 6pm, and then heads back home around 11pm if business is not good.

Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, he would go around selling snacks in the pubs, but with the closure of pubs, he can no longer do so.

Receiving SSO help

Mummy Yummy shared that Lim is receiving support of S$600 every three months from the Social Service Office (SSO).

In addition, Touch Home Care has been helping to clean his house every week for the past three years, and a Christian group visits him every Friday to give him cakes.

The food stall added that Lim has six younger brothers who all have their families and who he sees only on New Year's Eve and for Chinese New Year reunion dinner.

"If he finds the food suitable and convenient for him, we will proceed to include dinner meals for him too," wrote Mummy Yummy.

They will visit him again in one week's time to check in on him about the meals and any additional assistance he may need.

You can read Mummy Yummy's full post here:

Top image via Tony Tan's Facebook post and Mummy Yummy's Facebook.