GEORGE TOWN – The Batu Lancang Service Office has launched Community Meal, a welfare programme that provides food coupons for those in need.
The first programme of its kind in the country and state, it will be implemented in restaurants situated at premises owned by local authorities.
Batu Lancang assemblyman Ong Ah Teong said people who come to eat at the Batu Lancang Food Complex can contribute to this programme by making donations to the fund at four coffee shops.
“Each coffee shop will provide a coupon worth RM10 every day for a month. Coupons priced at RM1 and 50 sen placed in front of the shop can be taken by the poor to buy food at any stall.
“For example, if a plate of noodles cost RM4, then with a RM1 coupon, he or she only needs to pay the remainder.
“Food stall operators will provide three meals a day, depending on the type of sales at their respective stalls, to be given free of charge to the poor for 10 days during the introduction period,” he said in a statement.
Ong said a total of 37 food stalls will participate in the 10-day programme, and that means in a day there will be 111 free plates of food being given out.
He said that this programme can only be fully realised through donations from the public.
“If the contribution received every month is large, then in the future, we can increase the value of this coupon to help more people.
Ong added that if successful, he intends to implement a similar programme at the Jelutong Public Market and temporary hawker site at Jalan Perak.
He is also willing to share this idea with the private sector to ensure the programme is more effective. – The Vibes, December 29, 2020
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