'PUBLIC NOT SO WILLING TO HELP ADDICTS'

Non-profit organisation, which has helped more than 3,000 ex-drug
addicts stay clean, is struggling to stay afloat

EVER since he started drug halfway house The Promised Land Missions
eight years ago, Mr Richard Tan, 47, has not drawn a salary.

There has never been enough in the kitty for him to pay himself; and
even if there were, it would first go to paying his eight staff
members, whom he owes $500,000 in unpaid wages over the years.

His wife left him two years ago, partly because he could not provide
for her, so he is just grateful that his employees do not complain.

Mostly former residents themselves who stayed on to counsel the 20 who
are now there trying to kick drug addiction, they know his biggest
worry is keeping the halfway house open.

'I do not know how to ask for money,' said Mr Tan, an O-level holder
and former drug addict who went in and out of rehabilitation centres
seven times from 1977 to 1990.

The non-profit organisation has helped more than 3,000 ex-drug addicts
stay clean. Currently, it has $28,000 in the bank for daily expenses,
an amount which will run out in less than two months.

It needs about $300,000 a year to survive. Part of that comes from the
residents themselves, who earn some money from paint jobs or as house
movers.

The lack of funds is not for want of trying.

Recently, Mr Tan sent out 200 letters to firms asking for sponsorship.
Only one responded - to say it had no money to give. The rest, when
contacted, said they were already giving to other charities.

Said Mr Tan: 'People are probably not so willing to give to drug addicts
because they are thought of as a nuisance. But they must be given a chance
to make a recovery.'

He is now approaching schools to try and sell bookmarks on drug
prevention for $1 each to their students. The halfway house would get
50 cents for every bookmark sold.

If none of the schools responds, he may have to hire a private
company, which takes a cut from every dollar raised, to help it raise
funds again - as he did last year when the halfway house owed an
all-time high of $130,000.

The company helped it to raise $280,000, most of which has been
used.

One of the staff members, Jason (not his real name), 44, recalls how
he tried to survive on bread and biscuits last year to save the home
some money.

There was no money to pay his hospital bills either, when he was
hospitalised for two nights with a gastric problem, so Mr Tan helped
him to apply for welfare assistance from the hospital.

Why soldier on when things are so dire?

Said Jason: 'The economy was bad, we had no jobs, money was not enough. But
I wanted to stay on because this is where I find hope.'