Bid to help poor families By NG SI HOOI

KUALA LUMPUR: Councillors should go to the ground and identify families whose household incomes are below the poverty line, said Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting.

He said the families were entitled to financial assistance under the Urban Poverty Scheme introduced by the ministry last year.

“You should bring cases of families or single mothers who are in need of financial assistance to the ministry as we have the scheme to help them.

“You should carry out house-to-house visits in your area such as the low-cost flats." STAR report.

Malaysia Report Card

Population

2006

25.8 Million

U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) Population Division (2004)

Percentage of undernourished population

2002-2004 average

3 percent

U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) 2006

Percentage of children under weight for age (under age 5)

1996-2005

11 percent

UNICEF - State of the World's Children 2007

Signatory of the Convention on the Rights of the Child
Yes (1989) Source: UNDP - Human Development Report

Percentage of population living on less than US$1 a day

1990-2004

2.0 percent

UNDP - Human Development Report 2006

Share of income or consumption (poorest 10 percent)
1.7 (latest available year) Source: UNDP - Human Development Report 2006

Share of income or consumption (richest 10 percent)
38.4 (latest available year) Source: UNDP - Human Development Report 2006

Palace’s P1-B food rations to benefit 382,000 students-GMANews.TV

Resembling alms-giving, Malacañang will start addressing the country’s problem on hunger by rationing food to grade one pupils and preschoolers of public schools in Metro Manila and 10 provinces where hunger is widespread. Read more....

Let's lend a helping hand

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Some 18,000 children die every day because of hunger and malnutrition and 850 million people go to bed every night with empty stomachs, a "terrible indictment of the world in 2007," the head of the U.N. food agency said. Read more....

Engage your neighbours and local authority

Second Step

2. Identify support for starting such a program:
•Are there people willing to volunteer to pick up food and deliver it to where it's needed?
•Is anyone willing to take on the tasks of identifying potential food donors, of handling telephone calls, of arranging the schedules for pick-up and delivery of food donations? Does anyone in your community have experience with transportation that they'd be willing to share?
•Are any restaurants or food wholesalers or supermarkets or other food establishments willing to sign on at the beginning? Are they willing to let you use their name to try to bring in other food donors?
•Do you have a local health department or authority willing to work with you to set up safe food handling practices?
•Are there any people with money who would like to help start this, by contributing costs for telephone, postage, supplies and other essential items?
•Do you need support from government authorities? Are they willing to provide financial as well as political support?

You can tell how many servings you need to eat each day if you look at the food pyramid. See a picture of the food pyramid, and learn more about it:http://www.kidshealth.org/kid/stay_healthy/food/pyramid.html

First Step

1. Assess your local community's need for program:

•Are there hungry people? Who are they? Where do they live?
•Are there established programs that feed the hungry, e.g. soup kitchens, homeless shelters, senior citizen centers? Where are they? Do they have enough food? Can they use extra food, especially if it's already prepared or not in top condition (e.g. stale bread)?
•Is there much food wasted? By whom or what kind of food establishments?
•Does your community have any laws that will protect food donors from liability if donated food makes someone ill?
•Is anyone else doing this, or something like it? Do they want help? If not, are they doing it well? Can you compete for support and funds? Should you even try, or will it polarize your community?

What advice do you have for people who are thinking about volunteering? Do it. It's a fantastically rewarding thing. It's about one person wanting to do it and getting a core group of people to agree they want to do it.

Want to help the hungry?

In our bountiful country Malaysia no one should go hungry. There is so much to go around if we care to share. This blog is dedicated to help them. We will highlight the needy, the needs, the plans to help them and the actions carried out to achieve this objective. Please help in anyway you can.