Yishun durian stall gives 1,000 free durians to over 500 seniors waiting in line for free durians in Yishun, some queue for over 3 hours

Over 500 seniors aged 60 and above waited in line for a durian giveaway in Yishun on Dec. 9, with some queueing for more than three hours.

About 1,000 durians were given away in 90 minutes.

1,200kg prepared for the giveaway

The stall behind the giveaway is Famous Durian, located at Block 848 Yishun Street 81, according to Shin Min Daily News.

This was the fourth time Famous Durian had organised a durian giveaway.

Its manager, Yan Qingsheng (transliteration), 43, said the giveaway was a way to give back to society and allow the elderly in the neighbourhood to enjoy durians.

"I prepared 1200kg of durians, which is about 1,000 durians. Anyone aged 60 and above are welcome," Yan said.

Each senior was allowed to take home one Musang king durian and another of a different variant.

In total, the durians were worth about S$10,000.

Some started queueing as early as 3pm

The giveaway started at 6pm on Dec. 9.

When Shin Min visited the stall at around 5pm, a line of about 200 seniors had already formed, extending from the stall to the void deck of the adjacent HDB block.

Fourth in line was 71-year-old Su (transliteration), who shared that she had been in line since 3pm.

There were three people in front of her.

Volunteers were also seen helping with crowd control and distributing queue numbers to prevent queue-cutting.

They would dispatch the seniors in batches to the stall to prevent crowding along the HDB block's corridor.

Not everyone was cooperative, as some seniors were seen attempting to jump the line by walking right up to the stall to collect the durians.

After being told that they would have to join the wait, they grumbled and left, Shin Min wrote.

Overwhelming response

The response was overwhelming, and Yan had to add over 100 durians from his inventory to meet the demand.

"There were about 500 to 600 people who waited in line. Towards the end, we were running out of durians, so I took some out of my inventory. But everyone was only allowed to redeem one each," he shared.

By about 7:20pm, the durians had been given out.

Yan pointed out that some seniors were upset that they could only claim one durian.

However, he was able to dispel their dissatisfaction after some persuasion.

"The giveaway is about spreading love and bringing joy to everyone. We don't want anyone to head off unhappy," Yan said.

Giving back to society

Yan has been selling durians for over 10 years and has had his fair share of tribulations.

He talked about how, during a low point in his life with not much to his name, a kind-hearted uncle, upon hearing of his troubles, offered Yan S$500 to help him through his woes.

"Apart from helping me solve my problems, he also inspired the resolve in me to start my own business and give back to society," he said.

This was how Yan decided to start his durian giveaways some years ago.

Nee Soon GRC Member of Parliament Lee Hui Ying was also seen during the giveaway interacting with residents.

Top image via Shin Min Daily News