Jackpot auntie gives back
Ms Choo, 59, who runs a vegetarian hawker stall at Geylang East Avenue 1, spent six hours last Thursday evening in her kitchen whipping up dishes like yusheng, curry vegetables, noodles, mushrooms, vegetarian squid and vegetarian pork.
The spread was served at at the void deck of Block 337, Ubi Avenue 1 yesterday and was open to the public.
"I did not sleep last night. After I finished cooking, I was so satisfied, I did not feel tired at all," Ms Choo said in Mandarin when she was interviewed yesterday morning.
Ms Choo cooked all the dishes with the help of more than 10volunteers, who prepared the ingredients.
She has been hosting the free breakfast for 10 years, catering for a prayer session held by an elderly nun.
The prayer session is usually held on the sixth day of the Chinese New Year.
Ms Choo provides the bulk of the food for nothing and only offsets the cost of the ingredients through donations collected by the nun, who prefers to remain anonymous.
She made headlines in October 2011 when she took on the Marina Bay Sands (MBS) casino after it had refused to pay her her full winnings of over $400,000 due to a glitch in the slot machine.
MBS eventually agreed to give Ms Choo the entire sum of her winnings.
Tables of eight were set up at the breakfast and people sat with strangers to mingle.
When The New Paper attended the event yesterday at 8.30am, the void deck was already crowded with people carrying out their prayers.
Tables were also already filled with people eating.
"All the while, we (the breakfast) have been well known. Just that the Jackpot Auntie story made me even more famous," said Ms Choo.
"For years, some people did not know who the cook was. Once the newspapers mentioned my name, they were shocked the Jackpot Auntie was the cook."
Mr Chris Low, 63, said he met Ms Choo two years ago when he first started volunteering at the breakfast.
Surprised
After learning about the Jackpot Auntie story through the news, he was surprised that she was actually Ms Choo.
"We are all on the same boat. We are just trying to do whatever we can to contribute to society," he said.
Ms Choo was comfortable catering for 3,000 people, having cooked for free for many charity events over the years.
In 2012, she cooked for at least 10 large charity events. Each event required her to cook for thousands of people.
She feels her deeds are all in the spirit of giving to society.
"Singapore actually has many kind souls from all walks of life," she said.
"People automatically approach me to offer their help."
Just as she said those words, Mr Ang Chi Tee, 59, who is in the renovation business, approached her to offer his help.
Mr Ang said, "I read the newspapers (on Thursday ) night and felt that they would need help. So I decided to come down to see what I could do, even though I do not know her (Ms Choo)."
"All the while, we (the breakfast) have been well known. Just that the Jackpot Auntie story made me even more famous," - Ms Choo Hong Eng on how media reports have affected her
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