If you think skipping that one fancy meal is a sacrifice, imagine having to send your children to a shelter home because you can’t afford to feed them. P. SELVARANI and AUDREY VIJAINDREN learn that in these trying times, NGOs, shelters and hotels are pulling their resources together to feed as many hungry mouths as they can.

WHEN Devanai Ramayih's husband passed away from colon cancer a year ago, she was devastated. She not only grieved the loss of her husband but also feared the future of her children.

The 34-year-old mother of four from Klang had no working experience and no savings. So, she did the best she could by babysitting, cleaning houses and sewing curtains.

Working until 3am every day was still not enough to make ends meet. Devanai found it impossible to feed her children, pay for their schooling expenses, and settle household bills.

"From all the work I do, I only make RM250 a month. But my house payment alone comes up to RM200. It is an impossible situation.
"The increase in fuel prices made a bad situation worse. I can't buy most of the things I could afford when my husband was alive. Even the school bus fares have increased."

There are also medical bills. Devanai's eldest child is asthmatic and the youngest is always falling sick.

"I can't afford to buy good food or vitamins. We eat just rice and vegetables everyday.

"Most days we only have dhal (lentils). Chicken is a luxury and we can only afford it twice a month.

"People have suggested that I give up my children for adoption but I can't bring myself to do that. I want to keep them with me even if it means we have to eat porridge everyday."

Devanai was at her wit's end and in desperate need of help when she first heard about Grace Community Service's "Food Bank for the Poor" project.

"I didn't know such a place existed. It was a godsend. The project volunteers even offered to deliver groceries to my house every month."

When she could not cope anymore, the Grace project came to the rescue WHEN, supplying her with rice, flour, milk, sugar and other essentials.

"Without this food bank project, I don't know how we would have survived. God has been good to me by sending these 'angels' to put food on my table."

The chairman of the Food Bank Project, Dr Henry K. Pillai, said they got started two years ago with the primary objective of providing basic food items to charitable homes, feeding centres and supplying food rations to destitute individuals and poor families.

The project works to channel sources of food supply that would otherwise be thrown away and wasted to reach the people who need them desperately.

The recipients of the food aid, who are screened by project officers, are widows, single mothers, the jobless and those earning less than RM700 a month.

Pillai said over the past two years, the project had no difficulties supplying food items such as rice, flour, milk, sugar, salt and canned goods as there was enough to go around.

"The food bank distributes 300 bags of rice every month to poor families in the Klang Valley. Well meaning families and organisations donate basic food items.

"Some five-star hotels send leftover bread and pastry three times a week. These food are distributed and consumed within 48 hours."

But since the recent price hike, Henry said, donations have decreased while those who need help have increased.

"Most of our donors are from average income families, not the wealthy. These families are struggling to make ends meet themselves. People are giving less rice and cooking oil, because it has become too expensive.

"The situation is worsened because more below average income families are now poor and are in need of help."

Other Good Samaritans are doing their part in feeding the poor and homeless, such as the Kechara Soup Kitchen.

The soup kitchen does not have a food bank but it supplies food and drinks to the poor that show up at Pudu Raya, Pudu Market and Chow Kit, every Saturday evening.

Come rain or shine, Kechara volunteers gather at car parks and distribute dry foods that have been donated by various companies.

Most of their volunteers are students and working adults. But Kechara volunteers also include expatriates and foreign visitors.

Volunteer Sharon Saw said they hand out 350 packets of halal dried foods weekly. The packets include fruits, biscuits, bread, snacks and water.

They are planning to make the soup kitchen vegetarian , to cater to people of all religions.

"We see almost the same faces every week. Most of the people who come to us do not have jobs or homes. They are caught in a situation and have no choice but to rely on handouts," said Saw.

"Many are elderly folk who have been abandoned by their families. We also supply food to drug addicts. There is no discrimination.

"There are many youngsters who come from rural areas hoping to get a job in the city. But when they can't get a job, they end up on the streets."

Like other organisations, Kechara has also noticed an increase of people on the streets since the recent price hike.

"More and more people are unable to afford the basic necessities. The situation is getting worse. Our aim is to get these people off the streets and house them someplace safe.

"We hope to train and find employment for them. But for now, we are trying to feed them as best we can."