1st Day-Kechara’s Mobile Soup Kitchen!
No it’s not a new department hehe….it’s Kechara Soup Kitchen (KSK) that has officially launched its very first weekday mobile soup kitchen!
Since September 2010, KSK has opened their very own building right in the city center of Kuala Lumpur! As they continued their community services, the number of homeless people that walked through their doors to receive food, do their laundry, get medical help, find help in getting jobs etc, continued to grow and grow and grow.
Even though it kept growing (currently, there are 160 homeless people that comes in per day, with 600 food packets distributed on Saturdays!), the KSK committee realised that there were still a lot of homeless people around the area that don’t have the means to get to their building. So, on the 6th of January 2011, a team of 7 got together to start the very first KSK mobile soup kitchen rounds!
Those that were part of that team was Khor (driver), Kwok Wai (committee member of KSK), Christine, Siong Woan (Treasure of KSK), Jasmine, Tek Kin and Yuan Hong.
They targeted the Kampung Bellamy area (behind MAA building), stopped their van at the Kuan Yin Temple compound (behind the Japanese cemetery) to then get off the van and walk into the area of wooden houses (squatters) carrying food packets. At the entrance of the residential area they met a man called Mr Wong. He was very impressed with the act of giving that he wanted to help out a little. Being a resident in the area, he knew of those who were ‘eligible’ to receive food packets, and so he led the KSK team to each ‘eligible’ house and helped introduce the two parties.
Those whom he introduced KSK to were the mentally-challenged, homeless, drug addicts, cancer patients, kidney patients and having close-to-nothing poor. A total of 30 food packets were given out that day.
The mobile KSK team made a rough list of those who had received food and announced to all of them that they will be distributing food in front of the Kuan Yin temple on weekdays between 1.30pm-2.00pm, starting the very next day. It will be then that the mobile KSK team will formally register them. This will make it easier to keep records of their needs and situation, e.g. if they are looking for a job and have a certain set of skills, if there is a vacant job it’ll be easier to match them up.
6th of January marks the launch of KSK’s 2011 plan to have at least two vans that caters to several hardcore urban poor community in the Klang Valley.
Tsem Rinpoche
The team took a picture with the KSK van (background) in front of Kampung Bellamy before they start their house-to-house food distribution
Kwok Wai talking to elderly couple in Kampung Bellamy. The elderly man suffers from a serious illness, while the elderly lady has a broken leg (wrapped in a pink plastic bag)
A family of 7! They were living on the streets until one of the house owners in Kampung Bellamy very kindly let them stay in his house for free. The home owners had moved to another area
Mr Wong took the KSK team to a man’s (named Mun) hut. There he explained Mun’s situation and advised Uncle Mun the distribution time of KSK’s daily mobile kitchen
Giving food to an old man who was staying alone
One of many recipients of KSK’s vegetarian food
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You guys are amazing to help the needy. Thank you for your kindness and compassion.
Kechara Soup Kitchen is doing a very good job. They kept expending and reaching out their goals one after another after all these years of hard work. And now the urban poor at this village will be able to fill their stomachs with a packet of healthy vegetarian food, what a wonderful news to rejoice!
Keep it up KSK!
What a great feat in the beginning of the year. Now more people can benefit from the great care of the Kecharians. May the Kechara Mobile Soup Kitchen expand to more areas in Malaysia so that more and more people can be able to have proper meals and thus we would be able to bring happiness into their lives.
What a wonderful way to start the new year by doing something beneficial for others.
May Kechara Mobile Soup Kitchen expand to more areas in the near future to cater to the needs of the less fortunate. May we bring relief to their lives.
Dear Rinpoche,
The plight of those who face REAL difficulties always makes me a little shameful of dwelling on my “problems”. It is entirely shameful that anyone in the world today struggles for food or proper medical care (a broken leg wrapped in a plastic bag?!).
What a wonderful example of active Buddhism the Mobile Soup Kitchen group has provided! Their efforts are very inspiring and gives a sense of the real worth of doing Dharma work to benefit others. Well done, guys – keep up the amazing work!
Kind regards,
Sandy