KUALA LUMPUR, June 30 ― Local event organiser, Tempatan Fest is using their platform and network to help promote food banks around Malaysia.
The initiative, Tempatan Food Bank, has helped promote over nine food banks across Malaysia in places such as Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Penang, Pahang and Melaka and they are looking to help more.
Project manager Nasir Rashid said Tempatan Fest’s role was to be an initiator and to provide coverage to the existing and new food banks while also looking out for those affected by the movement control order (MCO) and the Covid-19 pandemic.
He admitted that they were inspired by the efforts shown by other local non-profit organisations that have been tirelessly attending to the ones affected.
“So, we tried to connect with Tempatan Fest’s past collaborators and asked if they would be interested in opening a food bank, because some of them have their own cafés and their own space.
“We also received voluntary calls who offered their own space and asked to join in the effort.
“Our past connections from our past tours have helped us a lot with this initiative,” Nasir told Malay Mail.
He added that by using a standardised poster design with details of each food bank and their locations, it was easier for the public to contribute to their respective food banks.
“For now, most of those who joined us are from local communities like Skate Tua and Tita Kajang. We also have a few volunteer designers who helped us with the posters.
“The exposure is not for us, it’s just for the sake of letting people know about these food banks.
“It’s for those who need essential goods and for those who want to give out essential goods,” he said.
Since its inception on June 16, the Tempatan Food Bank has received support from the public while also seeing an increase in their food bank patrons.
“We were surprised and touched by the support but at the same time, it’s really sad to see that a lot of people are in dire need of daily essentials including baby diapers and milk formula.
“Even though we’ve seen this kind of situation before, but it is growing rampant, people who came to collect essential goods can reach up to 20 people per day.
“According to one of our collaborators in Melaka, the number of people they’ve received has doubled,” Nasir said.
Nasir added that their collaborators from Melaka under the Angkatan Local Malaya (ALM) community and Kuantan under the Kuantan Pickers were amongst the most active in their food bank initiative and Tempatan Fest had first approached them to help.
The Tempatan Food Bank is also looking for donations in terms of daily essentials such as rice, cooking oils, eggs, flour, and others.
Even though they discourage monetary donations, they still accept it to buy milk formula and diapers.
“We hope that the public can help us share and spread about this initiative because our aim is to help people.
“There’s just too many who are affected and although we have our own local NGOs, they already have their own list of people to help, let them do their thing.
“As for us, we are just merely beginning, it’s time for a change of culture, a culture of giving. It’s a good culture where if we have something extra, we give it to those in need, we don’t have money, but we can provide you with daily essentials,” Nasir said.
Previously, Tempatan Fest organised events which centred on local independent clothing brands that have been touring Malaysia since 2013.
