SOUP kitchens are dealing with a 15-50% increase in costs for ingredients to feed the needy, even as lines are growing longer due to the higher cost of living, those operating in the city centre said.

Pit Stop Community Cafe founder Joycelyn Lee said it has been tough to feed people lately, as the price increase affects protein, vegetables and fruits.

“Lines are getting longer and on some days we also get requests to prepare food packs from shelters, homes and other organisations.

“Some days, we have to turn down these requests, or pass them on to other organisations in the hope that somehow, somewhere, someone answers,” Lee told The Malaysian Insight.

Some of the requests involve food for households, an indication of how hard times are getting and not just for the homeless.

Pit Stop, which has a kitchen on site, usually prepares 150 meal packs daily, four days a week. It serves dinner on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, and lunch on Fridays.

“We don’t do dinner services on Friday since there are random groups handing out food from Friday evenings and through the weekend,” said Lee.

Given that raw ingredients are costing more, and more people are in need, she appealed to other groups that do ad hoc street feeding on weekends to collaborate with established soup kitchens and charity organisations, so as to minimise food waste.

“Food is increasingly expensive and we’re already facing donor fatigue.

“It is heart-breaking to see untouched food packs going bad, when we know that there are so many in need,” said Lee.

Food prices are higher even as government subsidies continue, as the ceiling price for items such as chicken eggs and broiler chicken have been raised effective July 1.

Chicken eggs are now capped at 45 sen each (grade A), 43 sen each (grade B) and 41 sen each (grade C) while broiler chicken in the peninsula is capped at RM9.40 per kg, a 50 sen increase from the previous ceiling price of RM8.90 per kg.

Chicken feed also costs more, reportedly due to the Russia-Ukraine war as the two countries are top grain producers and exporters. 

In May, inflation was 2.8% driven by food inflation, which hit a new high of 5.2%, according to the Statistics Department.

Not just the homeless

Social and Enabling Environment Development (SEED) founder Mitch Yusof said the lines are getting longer at SEED’s centre in Chow Kit.

“The lines do not just consist of the homeless, those lining up are people who are also working in the surrounding places.

“I’m not sure if they are urban poor but I do know that people line up for food because they need it,” said Mitch.

While SEED is still able to provide food packs thanks to sponsors, the amount supplied has seen a reduction.

“Previously, we used to receive about 300 packs daily (to give out), but now it’s usually 100 daily. Once a week we’ll get 200 to 300 packs,” he said.

Another long-time meal centre, Pertiwi Soup Kitchen, said the cost for each pack of food prepared has increased from RM5 to RM5.50.

“We serve about 500 packs a day, from breakfast to supper. However, there are some days we serve up to 800 packs,” said Pertiwi founder Munirah Abdul Hamid.

The packs are distributed from a government homeless transit shelter in Lorong Medan Tuanku 2, Kuala Lumpur.

Also serving the needy in the Chow Kit area is Pertubuhan Kesihatan dan Kebajikan Umum Malaysia (PPKUM), whose founder Elisha Kor Krishnan, said it is now only distributing food packs when it receive donations. 

Elisha said there are about 20% more people queuing up for the food packs when they are offered.

“Due to the hike in the price of goods, our food distributions have not been consistent.

“It now totally depends on donors and supporters,” she said, adding that donor fatigue was at its worst since before the Movement Control Order against Covid-19.

Previously, PPKUM would buy groceries and cook the meals themselves. Now, they will only help distribute food packs prepared by others. 

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said inflation would have hit between 8-11% if the government discontinued subsidies.

But the government is also on a cost-cutting drive due to the ballooning subsidy bill, estimated to reach RM77.7 billion this year, and has told the civil service to reduce expenses. The original amount allocated for subsidies this year was RM31 billion.

Putrajaya is also moving towards giving targeted subsidies that reach only the truly needy, and is in the midst of deciding the best mechanism. – July 23, 2022.