I, along with many others in Singapore, have been helping Uncle Ong with his cat-feeding expenses since March 2023.
I bumped into the 70-year-old bus driver on multiple occasions while getting off work and befriended him.
This was after I noticed that, without fail, he would show up each evening in the Kallang industrial area to feed community cats by himself.
After I got to know him, I discovered that he has been feeding 30 or more cats in Kallang and Hougang daily rain or shine, even on public holidays and weekends, paying for the cat food out of his own pocket.
He is making about S$1,000-plus a month driving a bus.
He has been feeding cats for the last 16 years.
The cats, which I also noticed, would wait for him like this all the time:
By Mothership
Here are some things I learned more than one year on.
1. He is going to stop driving a bus but will continue feeding cats
Uncle Ong is planning to retire.
He told me he will do so when he can no longer drive a bus any more.
He is not sure when, but he is sure that time will come.
However, that would not stop him from feeding cats, which cost about S$20 a day at the moment, owing to the sheer number of cats he feeds.
He said he will rely on public transport, with cat food in tow on a trolley, to get to Kallang.
He lives in Hougang.
I thought about asking him why can't he just stop, but then I realised the answer before even asking: Because no one else would be able to do so and then what would happen to the cats?
2. Community cat-feeding is a community effort
Over the last 14 months or so, I have come to realise that community cat-feeding on a large scale is, well, a community effort.
Cat feeders who feed one or two, or a handful of cats each day in their estate, can pull it off on a personal level.
But to feel 30 or more cats at two locations daily would require some logistics and heavy lifting.
The public has since stepped in with donations to help Uncle Ong buy cat food.
They are able to do so as they can make a donation by purchasing the cat food online directly from S&S Pet's Shop, the pet food shop at Block 462 Tampines Street 44 that Uncle Ong frequents.
The pet food shop, run by Steven Chan, will organise the delivery of cat food to Uncle Ong's home, or safekeep them in his shop until they get picked up.
3. No "succession plans"
The inevitable outcome foreseeable at the moment is that there will come a day when Uncle Ong cannot feed the cats anymore.
There have been days where he had injured himself, owing to his age, and he could not carry out the feeding rounds as thoroughly or as punctually as he would have liked to.
There is currently no "succession plan" or any networking with existing cat feeding groups or communities, because Uncle Ong is operating solo at a part of Kallang that is removed from housing estates.
From my conversations with him, I have come to understand he has not taken a break or gone on holiday in a very long time.
And he does not plan to.
4. Some Good Samaritans have stepped in
That being said, many Good Samaritans have appeared since Uncle Ong's story was made public over the past year.
He personally told me that a kind individual has offered to take any cat that is injured or ill to the vet and oversee the cost of the veterinary fees.
Others in the area, believed to be working in the Kallang industrial estate, have offered cat food and some cash to shoulder a bit of the financial responsibility.
How to donate
Those who wish to help Uncle Ong can purchase cat food for him via this link.
Or those who want to give smaller sums can contact S&S Pet's Shop directly at snspetsshop@gmail.com.
Top photos via Mothership