3,082 students benefit from Foodbank Siswa
Published on: Sunday, May 12, 2019
By: Ricardo Unto
KOTA KINABALU: Some 3,082 students have benefited from the Foodbank Siswa programme since its initiation in February this year. Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said the national food bank initiative, which targets to help some 20,000 poor students, will be rolled out in 20 public universities by end of this year.
“To date, we have 430 supermarkets and hypermarkets nationwide that have stated their commitment to assist the Food Bank Malaysia programme by contributing food supplies,” he said when officiating the Foodbank Siswa programme at the Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), here, Friday.
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“From this list of contributors, we match them according to the locality of the identified recipients.
We hope the contribution will be continuous.”
Saifuddin said the programme would not only instil volunteerism but also help develop organisational skills among students as it is being handled by members of the universities’ student councils.
Foodbank Siswa was the expansion from the Foodbank Malaysia programme, which had benefited some 113,706 households nationwide since its inception on December last year to March this year.
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The programme is conducted through two methods – Food Pantry and Central Kitchen – in campuses.
The Food Pantry is a dry food item storage room handled by student associations. Qualified students can take the food items based on a schedule.
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The Central Kitchen distributes cooked food items to the recipients.
UMS was the ninth university to launch the programme after it was initiated in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) Cheras, Universiti Malaya (UM), Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Penang, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) Skudai, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA), UTM Kuala Lumpur and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas).
Meanwhile, UMS vice-Chancellor Prof Datuk Dr D Kamarudin D Mudin said the Foodbank Malaysia programme will benefit some 433 students from the B40 group in the campus.
“Hopefully it will at least ease the burden of these students so that they can put more focus on their academics,” he said.
UMS, he said, has provided various assistance to students, especially financial aid.
“However, we are aware that we cannot afford to cover the needs of all the needy students.
“To this end, such initiatives like the Foodbank with the cooperation from various quarters will be a good starting point to help students facing the increasing cost of living, and ease their burden as well as to help resolve the issue of ‘belt-tightening’ among students.”
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