The rise in food prices have led to suggestions that we should restrict our food intake whilst we grapple through the rising costs.
Although most of us are privileged enough to be able to still afford food on the table, for those who have no other option but to rely on soup kitchens, bad news may be inbound.
According to NST, soup kitchen operators are starting to worry about sustaining operations amid rising food prices and a reduced contribution from corporations and members of the public.
Pertiwi Soup Kitchen founder Datuk Munirah Abdul Hamid said her main concern was being able to provide 400 and 1,000 packs of meals for lunch and dinner respectively to the homeless and hardcore poor at the Medan Tuanku and Chow Kit areas.
Munirah said that Pertiwi Soup Kitchen is seeking contributions to provide food aid worth RM5.50 that comprise of rice, an option of fish, chicken or prawn, vegetables and fruits.
“We need to be able to sustain our operations, which we have been doing for some time. But with the rising food prices, I am not sure how long we can go on. This is my main worry.”
“We can cope for now, but with corporations cutting back on their contributions, our resources are getting smaller. If we keep going like this, I am afraid we can only do this for the next 7 to 8 months,” she told NST.
“We want to continue serving those in need, but our reserves (resources) are depleting fast.”
Munirah added that sponsors have cut down on their contributions, so her team had been looking at other ways to generate income.
“We have approached some corporations for fundraising, but we don’t expect much from them,” she stated as the few corporations that have expressed interest to help would be able to sustain operations only temporarily.
“I will not give up. I will continue to knock on more doors for help,” she said.
Meanwhile for Dapur Jalanan Kuala Lumpur (DJKL), the current contributions could last only for 6 months.
Chairman, Mohd Ezzuandi Ngadi, said the charity organisation was exploring other ways to get more aid.
“We have regular contributors, but the amount has reduced greatly. We are worried, but we have to make do with what we have,” he said.
He said that DJKL feeds about 180 to 200 persons every Sunday evening at Jalan Panggung.
“Raw food ingredients are getting expensive. There have been days when money was tight and in order to keep within budget, we prepared vegetarian food instead. We tried to include fruit slices in the food pack, but even fruits are costly now,” he added.
For more information on how to help, check out DJKL as well as Pertiwi Soup Kitchen’s social media pages.
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