IT'S LUNCH time and people from all walks of life gather for a meal at the Singapore Buddhist Lodge at Kim Yam Road.

In one corner, a few elderly men chatter while tucking into a mound of rice and vegetables.

At the other end of the room, Chinese foreign workers quietly gobble down a meal before heading back to the construction site just across the road.

Then there are the loners who look down at their food, avoiding any eye contact, slipping out of the place as silently as they had come in.

Everyone there is seeking one thing — a free meal.

The Singapore Buddhist Lodge (SBL) says it has seen a 20 to 30 per cent increase in the number of people going to them for food then before the economy took a turn for the worse last year.

The organisation has been providing free meals since the 1980s and spends about $1 million a year, on the meals which include breakfast, lunch, dinner, and tea.

"If more people need food, they can come, this is part of our charity work, we will not stop this," said the SBL spokesman.

Mr Douglas Pakkiyadas, 58, who is unemployed and homeless said he usually sleeps in parks, showers in swimming pools, and either buys bread for his meals, or goes to the Singapore Buddhist Lodge for something more substantial.

The former restaurant captain said he is actually a Christian. "But they welcome everyone here," he said.

"If not for them, all of these people would have to starve," he added gesturing to the hall of over a hundred people.

Some of the regulars have even made friends.

Madam Loh Tong Hua, 60, said she goes there once a week to meet up with old friends who are still down and out.

"I have a job now, but if this place closes down some of these people will go hungry," said the part-time packer.

"Especially for those who have no place else to go, this is like their home, and we are like a big family," she added with a smile.