PUBLISHED ONJune 24, 2026 8:15 AMBYEsther LamAn elderly woman was filled with "immense joy" after volunteers found buckets of coins and her long-lost gold chains worth thousands while cleaning and decluttering her three-room HDB flat in Bedok.
The 70-year-old newspaper vendor, who declined to be named, said she and her sister continued living in the unit after their mother died more than a decade ago.
And over the years, items gradually accumulated, reported Shin Min Daily News on Tuesday (June 23).
Over time, the unit became packed with plastic bags and miscellaneous items, leaving only a narrow walkway from the living room to the kitchen and toilet.
Michael Sim, founder of ground-up community initiative AMKSS Social Move, posted on Facebook about the clean up in June, saying that he led over 30 volunteers from Ang Mo Kio Secondary School and the East Coast Town Council to assist in the clearing operation.
During the clean-up — which lasted from 9am to 5pm — volunteers reportedly found a large number of coins, which were stored in a large plastic box. It was so heavy it needed more than two men to carry the box.
They also found gold jewellery, reportedly left by the woman's mother. Those were subsequently given to her relatives for safekeeping.
"If it weren't for this big clean-up, I wouldn't have known I had these items. It was a pleasant surprise, and I'm very grateful to Shen Longtuan [Sim] and his team," said the elderly woman, adding that she would keep the coins for now.
In a Facebook post on June 7, AMKSS Social Move shared photos of the transformation process, including before-and-after images of the volunteers' decluttering efforts.
In one of the earlier images, the living room can be seen crowded with piles of red and yellow plastic bags, with the entrance to one bedroom completely blocked by the clutter.
Several buckets of different sizes were found filled with coins, while a small collection of gold chains lay on the floor.
The post wrote that the elderly woman was worried and hesitant when volunteers first arrived but "her worries gradually gave way to smiles" as the clean-up went on.
Sim told Shin Min Daily News that the elderly woman's sister was hospitalised earlier this month and after discovering the pair's living conditions, hospital social workers reached out to him for help.
He revealed that the team had visited the unit at least five times, including for pest control, as part of the clean-up effort.
He added that the walls needed repainting, while the doors and cabinets required replacement and the floors needed to be cleaned.
The cleanup typically costs about $2,000, which the team paid out of their own pockets, said Sim, adding that the effort was well worth it.
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