Seeking food donations for poor families

Volunteer Michael Ng showing the many wheelchairs available to be loaned to the poor.

A CHARITABLE society distributing food aid is facing a quandary as donations have dropped at a time when more poor families are needing help.

Charity Food Basket Society Klang founder Chew Song Kong, 63, said the poor had no financial backing to help them wade through this period of uncertainty due to the Covid-19 outbreak and movement control order (MCO).

“Times are bad for everybody as many people suffered a pay cut with some even losing their jobs.

“However, the hardest hit are the poor who are barely making ends meet in the first place and are faring worse now, ” he said.

Chew said the charity’s selection criteria was very strict for the monthly food basket worth about RM130 to RM150.

“We need about RM25,000 a month to give to 162 truly needy families and two homes on our list.

“Most of the families are in Klang while a few others are from Shah Alam and Puchong, ” he said, adding that donations had dropped by 20%, forcing him to run around asking people for contributions.

“What makes me sad is that we are unable to help 30 more families on our waiting list, ” said Chew.

The former building maintenance contractor inadvertently started his philanthropic efforts after stumbling upon a single mother with three young children looking forlorn by the roadside over two decades ago.

He helped the mother every month until she was able to take care of her children with her own earnings. More poor families crossed his path and he helped them, too.

Volunteer Michael Ng showing the many wheelchairs available to be loaned to the poor.

Chew said at one point, there were so many families that he could not help them on his own.

“I got my friends and family to pitch in and registered the society in February 2002.

“Back in the day, I stored the goods in a container placed on a public field before distribution. It was regularly broken into, so I started looking for a storage space.

“A kind woman from Taman Orkid in Klang, who knew about my charitable work, allowed me to use a portion of her land for free until today, ” he said.

Besides giving food baskets, the society also loans hospital beds and wheelchairs to the poor.

“Family finances suffer when a member gets sick. So, we do what we can to help.

“In the past five years, we have sponsored school supplies for about 250 children of our beneficiary families.

“We also see how we can help on a case-by-case basis. Some of our extra efforts include sponsoring tuition fees for four students who are very weak in their studies, ” said Chew.

He said they had bought laptops for poor students going to university.

“Our latest laptop purchase was for a single mother of three who was about to lose her job as a kindergarten teacher because she did not have a computer to conduct online lessons, ” he said.

“We encourage people to work and to improve their lives. We only help them a little to get by.

“We review their eligibility on a yearly basis too, ” he added.

Chew said he had started farming in order to generate income for Charity Food Basket Society Klang while teaching others to do the same.

The society is calling for more donors to contribute to the food baskets which consist of rice, sugar, oil, biscuits, instant noodles, eggs, condensed milk and canned food to reach out to other families in need.

To donate, call Chew at 019-222 6394.