Food bank set up
THIRD year Faculty of Business and Accountancy student Umar Aiman Abd Manan has set up a food bank at Universiti Malaya.
This, he added, is to help students from poor families.
“The idea to set this up is to assist friends on campus to have a meal,” he said in a statement from the university.
His involvement in start-ups and social enterprise encouraged him to set up a food bank programme.
Based on the “from students to students” initiative, the UM food bank is like a grocery store concept and has the support of Tesco, Aeon Big and Komugi Bakery.
This enables the students who need the assistance of the food bank to take the food they need without having to pay for it.
The food bank would not have. become a reality without the assistance eight students including Umar Aiman and his friends as well as Food Aid Foundation operations director Norhayati Ismail and Kenchara Soup Society director Justin Cheah.
The food bank also got recognition from the Domestric Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry. Its deputy secretary-general (domestic Trade) Datuk Badrul Hisham Mohd attended the launch of the event and helped to distribute food to 200 needy students.
UM deputy vice-chancellor (Student Affairs and Alumni) Prof Dr Abdul Aziz Abdul Raman also stepped forward to provide a location for a central kitchen so that students who need it could be provided with dinner.