Filling hungry tummies: Ong and her husband Renny Weldie packing meals for the food drive.
PETALING JAYA: If Covid-19 was going to end her business, at least she would have left some good behind before closing the door for good.
That was Dora Ong’s mantra as she worked tirelessly to ensure free hot meals were always available to those who needed them during the pandemic.
The co-owner of Awesome Canteen has been operating the cafe in Taman Paramount since 2014. Like many other outlets, it was badly impacted when the pandemic hit in 2020.
Recalling the tough times she had to go through just to keep the cafe afloat, Ong said red was a common colour in their financial records then.
But as the #BenderaPutih (white flag) movement started to pick up steam, she had a chance encounter that changed her entire perspective on how she would run the cafe.
“I was calling out the pick-up order and the person that collected it was a food delivery rider. She was heavily pregnant but instead of resting at home, she was forced to find ways to get an income.
“As a mother myself, I was shocked. I tried to get her to take it easy and offered her some food on the house. But since she was in such a rush, she just sped off to her next delivery,” Ong said.
That, and with the white flag movement going on, spurred her to churn out fresh meals on a daily basis – free of charge.
“People were doing all they could just to survive and I thought, what can we do to help,” she said.
Several meetings with other shareholders were held and Ong was frank – the cafe was already in the red, so what’s a few extra ringgit of food going to cost them?
“I told them that it wouldn’t make much of a difference since our finances were already in the red,” she said.
Ong set out some ground rules for the food drive.
All food had to be made from scratch, and to order, so it would be hot and freshly cooked.
Meals were also required to be nutritious and healthy. No junk food allowed.
“Every packet must have some sort of protein, fresh vegetable and carbohydrate, and we made sure to monitor the nutrition content of the meals, which we have some experience in due to the types of meals we cook here.
“Food was made fresh because I didn’t want people to have cold food that was left in the open for hours,” she said.
The process started slowly. The first few weeks saw them making 20 to 30 food packets a day. But as word of mouth spread, so did the orders.
At the height of the food drive, orders reached around 400 meals a day with 200 in the pre-lunch rush and 200 during dinner.
But anyone who needed a meal could walk in any time.
Ong also had food delivered directly to homes that made phone orders, working with like-minded Good Samaritans.
“We once had a huge order to a construction site. We brought food for the workers there while also running our normal day-to-day operations,” she said.
Anonymity was paramount – another one of her ground rules.
Ong knew that asking for help was a tough thing to do when you needed to “save face” and she wanted her cafe to be a judgement-free zone.
All they had to do was write down how many meals they needed and the staff would handle the rest – no questions asked.
“It was open to all, not just the urban poor. We actually focused on those who were going through a bit of tough luck then.
“Even if you came in a Mercedes Benz, we don’t know how things are at home because of the pandemic.
“Job creators suffered the most during this period because they still had to pay staff. We felt that we shouldn’t judge anyone who came in.”
Food was originally paid for internally, with shareholders contributing money to sustain the effort and to keep the restaurant afloat. But as the operation expanded, donations came in to help fund the drive.
Food was being delivered within and outside Taman Paramount.
Ong said looking back, she would do it again despite the financial stresses.
“When I look back, I could say that it was the most meaningful time of my life.
“There is comfort in a warm meal. When times are tough, sometimes that’s the one thing that can drive you,” she said.
