PETALING JAYA: MyKasih Foundation raised RM3mil to feed 2,500 families, including 500 Orang Asli communities in Pahang, Kelantan, Perak and Selangor, during the movement control order (MCO) period.
The charity organisation said as it operates on a unique efficient delivery system, the swift mobilisation of donor funds to targeted beneficiaries was made possible due to the extensive network of its retail partners, which includes Giant, Mydin, The Store, Tesco, AEON, Econsave, TF Value Mart and Speedmart99.
“The effectiveness of the MyKasih food aid programme is also attributed to the cashless nature of its welfare distribution.
“The MyKasih food aid programme runs on a proprietary chip technology of the MyKad, which enables charity funds to be channelled in a secure, targetted and transparent manner, directly to rightful recipients via their MyKad accounts,” it said in a statement on Tuesday (April 7).
The foundation added that to prevent abuse of donor funds, it has a barcode-scanning process to ensure only approved items were purchased.
“Recipients are able to choose from 10 approved food product categories such as rice, noodles, cooking oil, eggs, bread, biscuit, seasonings, beverages, and canned food.
“This exercise restores dignity to the underprivileged by letting them choose the food items they need and to purchase them only when they need it.
“More importantly, this minimises food wastage and removes the health and safety risks towards social workers and volunteers, who would otherwise have to procure, pack and deliver food aid to the beneficiaries during this critical MCO period,” it said.
MyKasih said it has also offered the use of its cashless welfare distribution platform to organisations and NGOs that were supporting the needy with food aid.
“This is to circumvent the challenges and risks NGOs face in physically handling the logistics of food aid during these difficult times.
“We hope to do our part in flattening the Covid-19 curve by keeping social workers at home, while letting the system render assistance directly to those with urgent food needs,” it said.
The donors were MyKasih’s chairman Tan Sri Dr Ngau Boon Keat, as well as corporations such as Dialog Group Berhad, Linaco Foods Industries, CIMB Foundation, Japan Tobacco International Malaysia, Heineken Malaysia and many individual well-wishers.