PETALING JAYA: When the Kembara Community Care Centre (K3C) was forced to shut down in April due to a lack of funds, many NGOs involved in charity work were left floundering as their “supply line” was cut.
Founded by social enterprise Kembara Kitchen in 2017, K3C served as a much-needed one-stop centre to which individual and corporate donors could send their items.
“We opened K3C to provide a focused and effective multi-faceted solution where resources were quickly assembled and manpower made ready to be mobilised at short notice. It set a precedent among NGOs,” Kembara Kitchen founder William Cheah told theSun.
He said K3C stocked essential items for disaster relief and food aid such as baby and adult diapers, milk formula, food items, cleaning supplies, basic first aid needs and other household items.
“Our operating costs for K3C was only RM100,000 per year, and that included transport and warehouse rentals,” he said, adding that K3C and Kembara Kitchen also supplied items to the Welfare Department whenever there was a need. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, donations were scarce and K3C was forced to shut down,” Cheah said.
NGO leaders and activists are now pleading for the public and corporations to help revive K3C so that aid could be distributed to all who are in need, regardless of race, religion or citizenship.
Anak Kami deputy president (operations) Ku Ammarah Ku Amir said since K3C shut down, many of its recipients were left without food aid and are struggling to survive.
“We have over 600 recipients in our database and every month, we need at least 30 cartons of baby diapers of various sizes, baby formula and essential food items for these families,” she said.
As Anak Kami is not a big NGO, it does not raise as much funds from the public as it requires.
“We depend on K3C mostly for supplies, which we use in our charity home for children or our recipients who live outside Kuala Lumpur. We hope the public will help Kembara Kitchen raise enough funds to revive the project,” she said.
Meanwhile, social activist Shayley Hing said not many organisations can claim to have the level of reliability exemplified by Kembara Kitchen and K3C.
“I will call it highly ‘focused’ because this is exactly what K3C was all about – providing aid during disasters and crises. I cannot recall an instance where aid was withheld due to racial, religious, political or any other reasons. They are very focused on that,” she said.
Hing said there is always a need for contingency funds because nobody knows when a disaster would strike.
“With climate change and poor urban planning, flash floods are becoming more frequent and the impact is much more severe than what we have seen previously.
“This, coupled with many people already struggling to recover mentally, physically and financially due to the Covid-19 pandemic and its aftermath, has made resilience as disaster survivors nearly impossible,” she said, explaining why K3C was so relevant before it was shuttered.
“A steady stream of donations ensured K3C was sustained to continue providing professional help to the most vulnerable communities. Sadly, it had to close down. We hope the public and corporations will throw in their support to revive it.”
Hing said to date, Malaysia has yet to have an organisation that was able to bring together various relief groups under one cooperative umbrella.
Those who wish to help Kembara Kitchen revive K3C may call Cheah at 012- 948 8560 or donate directly to Kembara Kitchen (CIMB account number 860-254-2231). It may also be contacted via email at yilynchan@sosprime.com.
