CHARITY groups and non-profit organisations are running low on funds, and this will have a major impact on their ability to help the needy.

Despite the shortfalls, they said they are still striving to provide for the poor families.

The groups told The Malaysian Insight that they have been continuously contributing to help low-income groups since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic last year.

Manivannan Letchumanan, 59, who runs Persatuan Sukarelawan Kuala Lumpur, said they are still providing food aid and groceries. He said the group had to halt the project for a brief period due to lack of funding but added that kind donors made it possible for the project to restart sooner than expected.

“We are constantly listening to people from low-income areas and providing groceries to those in need.

“For some time, the donations were quite low, and we had to stop for a short moment, but thanks to friends and associates we are able to open again,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Meanwhile for Kavibalan, his group of football friends, who call themselves the Taman Dato Hormat Football Brothers, took the initiative to start a food aid project. However, as the restrictions in the country eased, many volunteers had to return to their commitments.

He, however, said that they had not stopped the project but would continue on a smaller scale due to a shortage of funds.

“We just gave some groceries to 16 families last weekend.

“We are running low on donations, of course. In the last round of assistance provided, we had to fork out extra because there was a shortage. We are unable to find sponsors anymore. We can’t ask the same people for donations all the time.

“We are not planning to stop but, in the next round, we might do it on a smaller scale,” he said.

Mohammad Nazir, 39, from Negri Sembilan, said that his neighbours and him had started a food bank in his neighbourhood solely dependent on donations.

He said that until today, the shelf needs to be replenished at least twice a week as he said there are people still coming to take items from it.

“Although we had started it for our neighbours who are going through a tough time, some of the takers are not from our taman but those who are living nearby.

“We never stop them from taking but, in such cases, the items need to be replenished frequently,” he said.

People still need help

All three of them agreed that people are still struggling and that they should respond to calls for help.

Manivannan said he gets lots of calls, mainly from Lembah Pantai folks.

“Lembah Pantai has one of the largest populations of low-cost flats stretching from Kerinchi to Taman Sentosa.

As for Kavibalan, he said that they initially only focused on the low-cost houses in Desa Mentari, Selangor, but said that requests are now coming from as far as Dengkil.

Although not situated close to either their living or working areas, he said they could not decline such requests because the people requesting are in dire need.

“Some requests are not only for groceries; they can’t even afford sanitary pads. We help them to get that.

“When people are in a difficult situation, we won’t have the heart to say “no” to them. So, we try as much as we can to get it done,” he said.

Nazir said that the food bank project is wholly supported by fellow neighbours and that they are continuing to assist.

He said the project, which began in June this year, was supposed to only last for a couple of months, but said it now looks like the project would be prolonged.

“All of the donors, I believe, are doing it sincerely, so it doesn’t matter who takes the food, as long as the takers are genuine about their situation. At the end of the day, all we want is for people to have food on the table.

“We planned to do the project for only a few months, but with people still taking the items, we may just do it till year end,” he said. – September 17, 2021.