KUALA LUMPUR: They came as early as 10am to the Welcome Caring Services Feeding Programme centre at Jalan Bukit Nanas when lunch was only expected at noon.

The volunteers at the centre had just started to prepare the food for a minimum 120 destitutes they were expecting to serve.

"Sometimes, the number can increase to 140," Carl D'Cunha, the co-ordinator of the 11-year-old programme, said in an interview yesterday.

"The majority who frequent the place live on the streets," he said.

D'Cunha said it was common now to find recent destitutes coming to the centre to have lunch, the only meal offered from Monday to Friday.
He said the number who frequented about six months ago was about 90. "Many of the new people coming here to eat were recently unemployed."

As result of being unemployed, many could not afford to eat in shops, he added.

A sample lunch offered at the centre consists a cup of rice, a spoonful each of curry chicken and vegetables. A piece of fruit is also included.

The meal is served with a glass of water and a cup of tea.

"The lunch that we serve would cost about RM5 at a restaurant in the city," said D'Cunha.

With the increase in the number of destitutes, the centre either runs out of food or serves just enough with no food left for a second helping.

"We serve cream crackers if the food runs out," said D'Cunha.

Josie Seraspi, the centre's staff member who buys the groceries, said she purchased more food now to accommodate the increasing number of people.

"Previously, two 3kg tins of cream crackers would last two days. Now, they last only a day," she said.

She also complained that the price of rice had increased sharply in just one month.

"It used to be RM19 for a 10kg packet. Now, the price has increased to between RM27 to RM34 for the same packet," she said, adding that the centre needed 11/2 packets a day compared with one packet six months ago.

Owing to the increasing number of people to serve, Seraspi purchases an extra 30 eggs a week for egg curry served once a week, an extra 50 pieces of ikan kembung for Friday's lunch and an extra two chicken, each weighing 2kg, which yield 16 pieces each.

She shops for groceries once a week at a hypermarket, buys meat from Chow Kit market and orders the beverages from a supplier.

"Sometimes, the prices of vegetables and meat fluctuate and so we have to adjust the purchases accordingly to meet the budget," she said.

D'Cunha said that early this year, the Catholic Church Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur, which funds the programme, increased the centre's monthly food budget from RM400 to RM600.