Centre Point’s food bank campaign continues
KOTA KINABALU: Centre Point Sabah, through its CPCares: We Care Food Bank Campaign, has distributed food donation items to those who are financially affected by the pandemic around the city centre.
It has been a month since the food bank campaign was launched in the mall, which to date, has raised more than 3,000kg of food donation items from the public.
Over 100 financially-affected families benefitted from it.
“This could not have been possible without the generous support by the donors. Even if it is only one small pack of rice donated, at least we will be able to sleep well tonight knowing that one family has food on their table,” said the deputy general manager of Centre Point Sabah, Megan Liu.
Megan stated that the campaign was initiated due to the arising worries from the communities especially those who lost their jobs and struggle to make ends meet with the recent third wave of a Covid-19 outbreak.
“We hope from this campaign, we will be able to give those who have been financially affected a hope for a better future and nonetheless to be able to lighten the burden to those in need especially during this CMCO period,” she added.
After the food bank was launched for a week, the management team of Centre Point actively distributed the donations to several areas around Kota Kinabalu, such as Sembulan and Kepayan.
The recipients were mostly those who lost their source of income due to the implementation of movement control order (MCO).
“Thank you so much to those who donated to Food Bank Centre Point. Since MCO, it was quite devastating for us as my husband was undergoing retrenchment from his job and he is our only source of income. Praise to God, from your donations, my family and I will have food to eat,” said Samsiah Suliman, 33, from Putatan.
“It was heartbreaking to see those families, living in lowcost flats or squatter houses, struggling to make ends meet to survive and to feed their family,” Megan said.
She also said that the mall management is particularly concerned about the welfare of children as they are the most vulnerable group when their parents are unemployed.
Since public gathering events are still not allowed to be held to curb the spread of the virus, the management of Centre Point Sabah decided to focus more on helping the communities in need during November and December.
Moreover, the management of Centre Point Sabah has also sent out some of the donations items to the Foodbank Surau PPR at Taman Sri Keramat Ketiau, in support of the iReach Kasih Sabah program.
These contributions are expected to benefit over 20 families in that area.
Furthermore, the management of Centre Point Sabah has received many positive support and sponsorships from several organizations for this campaign, such as Onaki Sdn Bhd; Maestro Swiss Trading; Perfect Food Manufacturing Services Sdn Bhd; Regal Marketing Sdn Bhd; Multi-Bake Sdn Bhd; Gesen Packing Sdn Bhd; DKSH Malaysia Sdn Bhd; and J&B Enterprise.
With the Christmas season approaching, the management of Centre Point Sabah wants to bring some spark of hope to the communities, coinciding with this season of giving.
Hence, the management is appealing again to every Sabahan with surplus food such as rice, canned food, biscuits, cooking oil, instant noodles, eggs, packet drinks, and more, where these necessities can be distributed to the communities in need.
To donate, anyone can go to the donation hub located on the basement floor. The donation hub counter is open daily from 12pm until 5pm except for Sundays.
The management team will make sure to comply with SOP guidelines during the collection and distribution of the donation items.
The CPCares: Food Bank Campaign will run until 31 December 2021 in the hope to distribute to more affected individuals during the pandemic situation, as well as in the event of natural disaster.
For more information, please contact Ms. Dymna or Ms. Winnie at 088-255860.
Meanwhile, free face masks giveaway to the public, which started on October 21, is still ongoing as an initiative to help keep the communities safe while shopping for their essential needs in the mall.
Each person will receive one free mask upon their entry to the mall without any minimum spending limit at the Information Counter located on the ground floor.