The Malaysian Insight

A CHARITY in Klang has been quietly feeding and serving poor communities living on the fringes of this historic royal town in Selangor, Malaysia’s richest state.

Reach Out, which has been operating for almost a decade, has 120 aid recipients in its database, and the goal is to give them long-term aid.

“We have about 50 volunteers, and we don’t just give them food. We often go down to the homes of the poor, too,” Reach Out volunteer Melvin Lim told The Malaysian Insight.

“Especially if they are senior citizens, we will check on them at their homes to ensure they are healthy.”

Last week, Lim brought a journalist and photographer from The Malaysian Insight into a settlement village in Jalan Tengku Badar, Port Klang, where a bulk of their clients live.

Among the people there were elderly couple Ismail Supadi, 81 and his wife Amnah Ali, 72.

Ismail was once an odd-job labourer, but he can no longer work because of health issues. His wife will walk to town every night to receive food from ‘Reach Out’.

The group has registered the couple with Lembaga Zakat Selangor (LZS) in Klang to get help, but according to Lim, they have yet to hear from the centre.

Attempts to contact LZS for comment were unsucessful.

On June 2, the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais) revealed that the number of families classified as hardcore poor and poor have increased to 46,500 in 2016, from 44,393 the year before.

According to the religious body, the main reason for the increase was the rising cost of living and an increase in retrenchments last year.

Donors keep the aid flowing

Reach Out has been able to regularly provide meals to poor families, but the distribution of dry goods, like rice, sugar and flour, has been dependent on donors.

Lim said the group might need RM5,000 a month to cover the cost of dry goods’ aid, while the daily distribution of meals only required RM400 a day.  

“We used to be more consistent, but now, the number of donors seems to have dropped. So now, if somebody donates 100 bags of rice, we will distribute it to the poor families,” said Lim.

About 30% of those registered with Reach Out Klang are made up of senior citizens and those who are categorised as hardcore poor.

The group distributes food at two locations in Klang, Jalan Taiping and outside the Maybank branch at Jalan Tengku Badar.

“We always prepare 80 packs (to distribute) at 10pm for two locations. An estimate of the cost is RM5 a person, so it comes up to at least RM400 a day.

Getting their hands dirty

Lim said he encouraged donors to join them in preparing and distributing the food, preferring to receive sponsorships in the form of food and manpower, rather than cash.

“We ask the sponsors to go down to the ground and get their hands dirty in distributing the food. When they do this, they will know the real situation,” he said.

For those who insist on giving cash, Lim said he would show the receipts for the purchases made with their money.

Donations and volunteers come from university students, associations and private corporations.

“We also encourage them to organise their own programmes, we will just guide them,” he said. – July 16, 2017.