According to the Centre’s Deputy General Manager, John Burke, “As the ‘People’s Centre’ and Malaysia’s premier purpose-built venue, we are a socially responsible organisation that operates our business in a sustainable manner. Giving our surplus food to those in need is something we have wanted to undertake for a while, but it hasn’t been possible until now.”
He continued, “Thanks to the passing of the Food Donors Protection Bill 2019 in Parliament, we are delighted to be able to establish this great partnership with Food Aid Foundation to help them achieve their worthy mission of ending hunger and nourishing hope by connecting the world of surplus to the world of wants. We look forward to growing this partnership and in the process hopefully improving the nourishment and well-being of those supported by Food Aid Foundation.”
The Centre is supportive of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) to transform the world, and its partnership with the Food Aid Foundation help contribute towards goals 1, 2 and 12, no poverty, zero hunger and responsible consumption and production respectively.
Thanking the Centre for their support, Food Aid Foundation Founder, Rick Chee, said, “We commend the efforts of the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre and we deeply appreciate the partnership. We also hope this collaboration will inspire other local venues and organisations to follow suit, as from our studies, we know that there is an abundance of surplus food in Kuala Lumpur that can most certainly be put to good use.”
“The greatest gratification coming out of our mission is to see the smiles on the recipients’ face when they receive food and the chance to taste many items which they have never tried before. Even a simple item like a Danish pastry can give them so much joy,” he added.
In addition to this campaign, the Centre also works with qualified contractors to turn its organic waste into useful products. For example, organic waste is processed into fish feed and used cooking oil is recycled into various by-products including soap stock.
Food Aid Foundation is an NGO which rescues ‘Halal’ edible but surplus food and groceries from manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, retailers, companies and people. This includes unused or unwanted food, as well as products that are out of specification, close to expiry, incorrect labelling, damaged packaging, discontinued promotional products, excess stock and customer returns. This is all collected and distributed to charitable/welfare homes, voluntary welfare organisations, refugee community, poor families, soup kitchens and more.
