Mother of 6 struggling ‘paycheck to paycheck’ still runs breakfast club for kids in AMK
Every morning at the crack of dawn, Lydia Susiyanti Sukarbi wakes up in her two-room rental flat in Ang Mo Kio, where she lives with her husband and six children, then wheels a trolley of food a few blocks away to feed neighbourhood children.
At the void deck of Block 228A Ang Mo Kio Street 23, she lays out a spread of cereal, biscuits, hot dog buns, milk and Milo, waiting for the first children to trickle in.
Living ‘paycheck to paycheck’
This is Ms Lydia’s humble breakfast club for underprivileged children, Breakfast Buddy, which she launched in February 2025, despite having little to spare.
At the time, she was the sole breadwinner after her husband stopped work due to an accident and stayed home to care for their children, aged between two and 16.
The 36-year-old was earning about $3,000 a month while saving for a Build-To-Order (BTO) flat.
Living arrangements were tight — all eight of them share the two-room rental unit, sleeping together on the floor of a single room each night.
Even so, she set aside around $300 to $400 a month to run the programme, driven by a simple belief that no child should go hungry.
“We definitely lived paycheck to paycheck when (my husband) was not working,” she said.
On tighter days, she would cook plain porridge for her children so they would still have something for breakfast.
“If we don’t have enough food, never mind, we can always eat porridge,” she said. “We still work something out to make sure the kids eat.”
Ms Lydia told Stomp she was inspired to start the initiative during her stint as a canteen stall vendor in 2024, where she noticed some children coming to school without breakfast — what she described as the “silent struggle” many children face.
“Breakfast Buddy is not just about the food, it’s also about giving them peer support,” she said.
To make ends meet, she took on multiple roles — working part-time at Allkin Singapore, serving as an ad-hoc mentor at Skill Seed, and running a home-based bridal business, which she has since given up.
She also volunteers with the Empowered Families Initiative.
Her children also benefit from the Ministry of Education’s Financial Assistance Scheme, which helps cover basic schooling expenses.
As her programme gained traction, more donors came forward with cash and in-kind contributions, such as cereals, Ms Lydia told The Straits Times in June 2025. Most costs are now covered by donations.
‘A safe space’
Today, Breakfast Buddy runs three times a week, serving about 20 to 25 children each morning, with numbers sometimes reaching up to 35.
Children begin arriving around 6.45am, picking their breakfast before gathering in small groups to eat and chat. Ms Lydia can be seen greeting them warmly.
After some time, she gently reminds them to head to school just across the void deck.
The initiative has, over time, grown into what Ms Lydia describes as “a safe space”, where children can open up to one another — and to her and fellow volunteer Ms Halinah Yatim, 53.
She recalled one boy who would regularly stop by her block just to “lepak and talk” to her and her husband.
She also keeps a name list to track the children’s attendance in school, and has referred two cases to the Family Service Centre (FSC) over concerns about the children’s safety at home.
Still, she insists she is “just another aunty downstairs”.
“I don’t usually practice being the ‘mother’ to the kids… That’s one thing I would not want to take away from their families,” she said.
Building on Breakfast Buddy, Ms Lydia launched Breakfast Buddy OntheGo in February, which runs twice a week in another Ang Mo Kio neighbourhood.
She also organises activities such as dance and football, with plans to introduce guitar lessons.
“It’s really wonderful to see all these kids get to know each other,” she said, adding that she hopes to host a Hari Raya dinner with their families in late April.
Ms Lydia’s efforts have also inspired others, such as 35-year-old Siti Nur’Aisyah, who started her own version of a breakfast initiative in her Woodlands neighbourhood in October 2025.
She said she was motivated after seeing the impact of Breakfast Buddy.
The mother of two told Stomp she fills a trolley with snacks, including biscuits and drinks like Vitagen and milk, attaches a note reading “Grab a free treat!”, and leaves it at the void deck for anyone to take.
“Seeing efforts like Lydia’s has been very inspiring and reminds me how small acts can create a bigger impact,” Ms Siti said.
Continues to make sacrifices
Things are more “comfortable now”, Ms Lydia said, with funding support from Chua Foundation — though she declined to disclose the amount — and her husband having returned to work.
However, her greatest challenge is time.
Mornings are especially hectic, with both her and her husband preparing their children for school while running Breakfast Buddy.
“My schedules are always overlapping, and I’m always trying to find a way to see how best to manage it,” she said.
She added that she now spends less time with her children, who call her a “workaholic”. She has also put her social life on hold, saying there’s simply no time as she continues juggling multiple jobs and volunteer work alongside overseeing Breakfast Buddy.
At times, she admits to feeling overwhelmed.
“I get really, really busy at times. Sometimes I ask myself, what the h*ll am I doing?”
Still, she keeps going, leaning on family, friends and colleagues who understand her commitment — and whom she can occasionally rant to, she joked.
Although they still have to cut back on expenses, Ms Lydia, a finalist for The Straits Times Singaporean of the Year award, said the experience has helped them better understand their priorities.
The family now buys only what is necessary and no longer stocks up on groceries. They have also given up holidays, which she now sees as a “privilege”.
“I would think to myself — do we want to go for a holiday or use the money to pump a bit more into expenses like food?” she said.
Ultimately, she said it is always “family first”.
“At the end of the day, if I cannot take care of myself and my family, I will not be able to take care of the community.”
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