2017 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee: Tony Tay (Singapore) with his 'Willing Hearts'

'Willing Hearts,' a fully volunteer-based, secular and non-profit organization in Singapore, runs a soup kitchen that prepares and cooks six thousand meals a day for distribution at forty points around the island state.

Tony Tay with the other awardees seated behind him.

The hot, packed meals (segregated for the Muslims and non-Muslims) are for the needy: neglected and abandoned elderly, persons with disabilities, the sick, children of single-parent households, low-income families, and migrant workers.

Tony Tay founded this charity in 2003 starting with eleven volunteers. As of today, some three hundred regular volunteers operate the kitchen 365 days a year in a public community center.

Tay was born poor. Abandoned by their father when he was five years old, they were homeless with their mother engaging in transient jobs. He and a sister were put in an orphanage, and two other sisters were taken care by a foster family.

Tay dropped out of school at twelve, sought for food wherever he could, and worked at odd jobs. He persevered, slowly overcame poverty, and succeeded in the printing business he set up. He and his own family now live in modest comfort in his own home.

It was his mother that inspired him to start his 'one hot meal revolution': "[H]e was fifty-seven when, at his mother’s funeral, he was deeply moved by the great number of people who came to give their respects to his mother. Despite her own difficulties, she had devoted herself to charity work with the Canossian Sisters. Inspired, Tony and his wife began their share of doing good for others -- collecting unsold bread and vegetables from the market and bringing these to the Canossian convent to be given to the needy. Enlisting family and friends, they began to cook what they had gathered in their home kitchen, delivering packed meals to the poor and elderly."

Tay looks at 'Willing Hearts' as a way of being part of one family, one village considering that he did not have much of a family when he was growing up. “We are just sharing,' he said, 'sharing all that we have in life to make a better society.”

That simple sharing of food has fostered the spirit of volunteerism among taxi drivers (they deliver food packs), parents with their children (they help in the Willing Hearts kitchen--preparing ingredients, packing meal boxes, cleaning and washing), among others.

Tony Tay receiving the medallion and certificate from
Vice Pres. Leni Robredo & RMAF Chair Ramon del Rosario, Jr.

In his response after receiving the Ramon Magsaysay Award, he expressed his gratitude to those who answered "YES" when he asked for help:

• the Canossian sisters to help collect extra bread that were not sold for the day from a bakery.
• to distribute the rest of the bread to those who need it;
• to collect the extra vegetables from wholesalers;
• to my wife when she asked to cook for the elderly who cannot cook for themselves;
• to all who asked for help along the way.

'Willing Hearts,' he said, 'is a journey of many who said "YES", yes to those in need. Willing Hearts started with one word -- YES.'

In electing Tony Tay to receive the 2017 Ramon Magsaysay Award, the board of trustees recognized 'his quiet, abiding dedication to a simple act of kindness – sharing food with others – and his inspiring influence in enlarging this simple kindness into a collective, inclusive, vibrant volunteer movement that is nurturing the lives of many in Singapore.'