Unsold food from Ramadan bazaars delivered to those in need
SHAH ALAM: With an ailing husband and a school-going teenager to look after, Shahida Sudar is grateful for any help she gets during the fasting month, especially when it comes to receiving meals.
So every time the MySaveFood @ Ramadan Bazaar pick-up truck stops at the Sri Melewar apartment here, the housewife will be among the residents who will queue up to stuff her grocery bag with kuih, savoury snacks, and the occasional nasi ayam.
Like her other neighbours, Shahida, 61, only takes enough food for her family, knowing that other residents also depend on the initiative run by Shah Alam City Council (MBSA) since the start of Ramadan.
“The food supplied helps me to save money and time as I don’t have to cook or buy as much this month,” Shahida told The Star.
Every night after iftar (breaking of fast), 16 MBSA employees and 16 volunteers collect unsold food from three of Shah Alam’s biggest bazaars – Seksyen 13, Seksyen 17 and Seksyen 19 – and distribute it to nearby low-income households and students’ hostels.
Stickers reminding recipients to consume the food within two hours are affixed to each packet. — MUHAMAD SHAHRIL ROSLI/The Star
Another stop is Politeknik Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz, where the city council’s team would invite students to collect food packets from the pick-up truck.
“We are very grateful to MBSA for this service because as students we don’t have much money and we are always trying to stretch our allowance,” said Muhamad Arif Ahmad Fahmi, 20.
Besides delivering the food packets to students, MBSA also leaves some outside the polytechnic’s Islamic centre for those performing terawih prayers.
So far this Ramadan, the MBSA team has collected enough food, equivalent to more than 6,800 meals from about 200 stalls in the three bazaars, said MBSA employees when met at the Seksyen 13 bazaar here.
A standard packet of nasi ayam and kuih from these bazaars usually weighs around 1kg.
The team has so far collected 6,852kg of unsold food as of April 3, said MBSA deputy director Aiman Danial Pawan Chik.
This is the fourth year the council is running the MySaveFood @ Ramadan Bazaar.
It has been so effective at reducing food waste that the Selangor government has ordered all local authorities to emulate it.
MBSA runs the programme every day along with volunteers from student groups such as Harmoni Universiti Teknologi Mara and UiTM volunteer brigades as well as youth groups Ikram Muda Shah Alam and Pemuda Gema Malaysia.
The team collects the extra food after iftar from the stalls, weighs what is collected and repackages it.
Stickers reminding recipients to consume the food within two hours are then affixed to each packet.
In GEORGE TOWN, a queue usually forms at mosques such as Masjid Hashim Yahya on Jalan Perak as underprivileged residents wait their turn to receive extra food donated from Ramadan bazaars.
One of them was a senior citizen who only wanted to be known as Ali, 65.
He said that the food provided by the mosque had helped him save money during Ramadan.
“The mosque is popular among B40 families.
“If the food donated by the public or from the Ramadan bazaar finishes, then the mosque will cook food for us,” he said.
Ali, who resides near the mosque, said that during iftar, the food remained warm and fresh.
Besides the underprivileged community, foreigners also benefit from the donated food.
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