(From left) Abdul Wahab, Abas, King and Elina launching Box of Hope at a Village Grocer in Kuala Lumpur.
THE public can now donate food while shopping at the grocer.
The Box of Hope initiative is the first by Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Air Selangor) under its corporate social responsibility programme #sesamamara, in collaboration with Village Grocer and Yayasan Food Bank Malaysia (YFBM).
Air Selangor director and operations head Abas Abdullah said the company aimed to provide sustainable assistance to those most in need during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Our target group comprises B40 families staying in 35 people’s housing projects (PPR) within the Klang Valley.
“We hope the public, including Air Selangor customers, will put essential items such as rice, flour, cooking oil, sugar, biscuits, canned food and milk powder into the box, ” he said during the launch at Village Grocer in MyTown Shopping Centre, Kuala Lumpur.
The box is available at five Village Grocer outlets namely MyTown, Melawati Mall, 1 Mont Kiara, Tamarind Square and Central i-City.Air Selangor would monitor the donations received over the next six months, said its corporate communication head Elina Baseri.
“We will send the donations to 1,295 families and hope to identify more groups next year, ” she said.
Box of Hope is also placed at Air Selangor customer service centres in Kuala Lumpur, Petaling, Gombak, Klang/Shah Alam and Hulu Langat where it will accept donations of clothes, books and toys too.Other initiatives under
#sesamamara include a plumbing apprenticeship programme as well as an animal adoption initiative with Zoo Negara.
The food items will be collected from the box every week before being sent to the YFBM collection and distribution centre in Kajang.
YFBM chief executive officer Abdul Wahab Long said its volunteers and staff would check on the condition of the donated items to ensure they were edible and not past their expiry date.
“We have been doing it all this while, including for surplus food, ” he said, adding that YFBM had collaborated with other non-governmental organisations and partners to assist 600,000 households so far.
The Food Purveyor Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Geoff King said the Covid-19 pandemic and movement control order (MCO) had motivated everyone to look out for the community.
“Village Grocer has been donating surplus food to Zoo Negara as well as delivering food packages to orphanages and children’s homes, ” he said.
The Food Purveyor owns Village Grocer and Ben’s Independent Grocer.
Did you find this article insightful?
