Volunteering @ Kechara Soup Kitchen

Bea & I have been planning to volunteer for charity with our friends for years now. Somehow, our plans have always seemed to fail. This time was actually the first time our plans sort of "came to life". We chose to volunteer at Kechara Soup Kitchen with Sheng Wei & my mom. We made contact with the project director, Justin Cheah and planned a visit to volunteer a week later.

A day before we volunteered, we baked some Smore Cookies to distribute.

All baked, packed & ready to go!

Let's get sidetracked for a moment, just incase you're wondering about the recipe...Bea found it on Pintrest. 

Knock yourself out! It tastes really good. 

250gm of butter
1 cup of brown sugar
1 tea spoon of baking soda
1 tea spoon of salt
2 eggs
2 cups of all purpose flour
1 bowl of chocolate chip
1 bowl of mini marshmallows  

Pre-heat & bake at about 160-180 degrees (depending on your oven's ability) for about 10-15 minutes. 

Anyways, back to volunteering.

Kechara Soup Kitchen's mission in the short term is basically to provide sustenance & basic medical care to the homeless & urban poor in Malaysia. 

If you're interested in volunteering, you can always check their site out.

Kechara Soup Kitchen  

17 Jalan Barat (Off Jalan Imbi) 55100 Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA

We came early and had to wait a bit before we started volunteering. In the midst of waiting, 

we spoke to an elderly lady who told us a bit about the homeless & less fortunate. The elderly lady did not wish to be named but she told us her story about how she was from Taiping and that she had a twin sister. She told us how in the olden days, due to Chinese myths, their parents gave their two daughters away to an orphanage. They were raised in an orphanage ran by a convent. When they turned 15, the orphanage closed down which lead them to living on the streets. They ran away to KL to find jobs and survived till now. She told us how she usually takes the bus to work as a house cleaner and that Kechara Soup Kitchen was doing a great job in helping those in need like herself. She also noted that most of the homeless were elderly and the reason why they ended up homeless was usually due to their kids kicking them out of the house. 

I found it pretty sad that most of the homeless people were elderly and the reason behind why they were homeless got me pretty ticked off too. I don't get why any child would kick their own parents out of the house and leave them homeless. The streets are mean and at such an age, you honestly can't expect them to survive on their own. The fact that your parents brought you up, whether or not they did a good job in the process...kicking them out in the streets is definitely a sin. Some people honestly need to come to their senses one day.

 When the time came, we were asked to pack the meals that were to be sent out and distributed. 

Everyday at the same time they provide meals to the homeless or less fortunate. They can either choose to eat at the soup kitchen or take it elsewhere. 

Meals are cooked in advanced by their permanent volunteers and packed by us, the non-permanent volunteers.

The people who came to collect the packed meals were mostly the homeless & less fortunate elderly. It was pretty touching when the frowns on their faces turn upside down when they collect their meals. 

It was pretty busy & hot in the kitchen but definitely an experience. Later on, we were told to help organise clothes that have been donated. 

They don't have a big storage space but definitely a lot of apparels. We organised them by gender, apparels & sizes. Had fun planning how we were going to fit everything in the small space + sneezing it out because it was hella dusty. 

Kechara Soup Kitchen is really organised in their food distribution & donation.

Our next task was to deliver a months' worth of food to a family of four.

Our task was to deliver a months' worth of food to Ms Sivagami and her 3 children.

Selfies in the process of volunteering...

Off we go! 

(cute old man behind us ^_^)

Loaded in the trunk, off to Ms Sivagami's place! 

Ms Sivagami is sort of a single mom. She lives in a run down flat in PJ. Her family used to be quite well off but, after her husband met with an accident and severely injured his leg, he got into depression. He is what you call an alcoholic now. Ms Sivagami works as a house keeper to provide for her 3 kids. Kechara Food Kitchen provides them monthly with food supplies.  

It was nice volunteering and being able to deliver food supplies to them. 

All in all, I had a great time volunteering and getting to know more about the less fortunate who desperately need help from society. If you are willing to, do drop by to volunteer as Kechara Soup Kitchen depends on their volunteers to run. There are several ways you can help, you can either donate money, supplies, head over to help out or do all three! There is no limit when it comes to volunteering as long as you have the heart to. It was a great experience to me and I definitely wouldn't mind doing it again. 

-Zoey