Whenever Lenten Season comes around, as Catholics, we focus on Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving. Often, it is a priority just for this sacred season and then we go back to our normal lives. Usually our almsgiving is just in the form of cash donations - often forgotten quickly as there is no personal God-experience involved.
The longer I have been in ministry, the more strongly I feel in my heart that charity is more than just supporting financially. Our heart must have a God-experience where we feel an inner transformation and renewal. As a Christian, you and I must also give of our time and talent - to feel and understand how the poor and needy are just like you and me - human beings who are undergoing hardships and crying out to God or who are in utter hopelessness. We need to reach out in a personal and caring way to the marginalized in our society who are suffering and struggling to help them experience a life of dignity, hope and most of all, God's Love.
Just writing a cheque or donating cash can be quite painless and it may not really touch, awaken or transform our own hearts in a tangible way to reach out in love because we do not have a personal God-experience. I had been discussing this issue with some friends in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore the past few years. We all expressed the desire to have that personal touch in our giving - like being part of a mission outreach or in helping the needy locally in our own community. I am a firm believer in this Promise of the Word of God - "Give, and it will be given to
you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be
poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." (Luke 6:38) In my own personal experience, God is ever-generous to anyone who willingly and joyfully supports those in need irrespective if it is an initiative within a parish or not. We are called to care for the poor and needy regardless of their race, religion, gender or even which country they live in. God's Providence is limitless to the giver too!
If you are like me (when I was pursuing my career), often we have good and noble intentions to volunteer our time and talent at least once a week. The problem is that often we do not know which organization we can approach to help the poor and the needy in our community. Then we are too busy and the good intention is forgotten until the next Christmas or Lenten season. Our intention to help those in need must become a tangible Faith in Action. Perhaps now is the time to begin.
Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me." (Matthew 25:45)
Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me." (Matthew 25:45)
I hope the list below of various organizations having an outreach to the needy In terms of Food Bank, Soup Kitchens (Meals for the Poor) or Suspended Meal Programmes (Paying Forward for a Meal for the Needy) will be useful for you to volunteer or even as a weekly family mission initiative with your children of sharing God's Love.
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FOOD BANK
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| HONG KONG |
FOOD BANK
FEEDING
HONG KONG (HK
Registered Charity IR No: 91/11636)
Unit 715-17,
Block A2
Yau Tong
Industrial City,
17-25 Ko Fai
Road,
Yau Tong,
Kowloon
Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2205 6568
Email: info@feedinghk.org
Website: http://feedinghk.org/about/our-mission/
Feeding Hong Kong is the first Hong Kong food bank dedicated to rescuing surplus nutritious food from retailers, distributors and manufacturers and redistributing it to people in need. Our task is to fight hunger in Hong Kong and at the same time reduce the amount of quality food that is being sent to our city’s landfills.
At the same time, we work tirelessly to raise awareness about poverty and food insecurity in Hong Kong and promote healthy eating and nutritional education to the most vulnerable groups in our community.
Feeding Hong Kong is the first Hong Kong food bank dedicated to rescuing surplus nutritious food from retailers, distributors and manufacturers and redistributing it to people in need. Our task is to fight hunger in Hong Kong and at the same time reduce the amount of quality food that is being sent to our city’s landfills.
At the same time, we work tirelessly to raise awareness about poverty and food insecurity in Hong Kong and promote healthy eating and nutritional education to the most vulnerable groups in our community.
SUSPENDED MEALS - HONG KONG (Buy a meal in advance for a hungry person)
KEEP
& GIVE
McDonalds Hong
Kong
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| MALAYSIA |
SOUP KITCHENS
ASSUMPTION
SOUP KITCHEN
No. 70,
Jalan Templer,
46050 Petaling
Jaya
Selangor
Malaysia
Contact: Alice Massang, Tel: +6012 212 2397
The
Assumption Church in PJ has their very own soup kitchen on Mondays and
Wednesdays. They urgently require committed volunteers to prepare, serve, cook
and clean up on soup kitchen days. The kitchen opens at 7.30 am and is ready to
serve at 11am. The Assumption Soup Kitchen (ASK) distributes the meals to those
in need at the Assumption Family House which is just behind the church.
PERTIWI SOUP KITCHEN
63 Jalan SS
3/53,
Taman
Subang,
47300 Petaling
Jaya
Selangor
Malaysia
Contact: Munirah Hamid, +6012 236 3639
The Pertiwi
Soup Kitchen is responsible for feeding 550 – 700 people with the help of their
committed volunteers. They distribute pre-packed healthy food and drinks four
times a week (Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays) in KL. They make 5
stops on their distribution route start which starts at 9 pm on Jalan Tunku
Abdul Rahman and ends at Masjid Negara at approximately 11.40 pm.
DAPUR JALANAN KUALA LUMPUR
52-C, Jalan
Kemuja,
Off Jalan
Bangsar,
59000 Kuala
Lumpur
Malaysia
Contact: Pakwan, +6019 267 1285
To volunteer with Dapur
Jalanan, join them at 5.00pm every week on Sunday at Jalan Panggung to serve food to the needy.
They accept monetary donations as well as food if you would like to contribute
further. Love to cook? You can come a little earlier on Sunday at around 2pm
and help the team to prepare meals!
KECHARA SOUP KITCHEN
17, Jalan
Barat,
Pudu,
55100 Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia
Contact: Justin Cheah, +6010 333 3260
The Kechara
Soup Kitchen (KSK) requires volunteers on weekdays to pack and distribute food
to the needy in the morning and afternoon. On Saturdays, the team gather at the
soup kitchen on Jalan Barat at 9.00 pm to pack and distribute before moving on
to their Food Distribution rounds. First-timers who wish to participate in
Saturday night rounds are required to attend a compulsory orientation briefing
on Saturday at 8.30 pm.
KSK distributes
meals every Saturday. Typically, KSK would send out at least 12 teams, each
with 15 volunteers, to distribute food at several key locations across the
capital including Chow Kit and its surrounding areas. The teams are mobile and
are tasked with feeding the homeless at three or four locations before they
pack up for home. In one night, KSK feeds at least 800 people.
SUSPENDED MEALS - MALAYSIA (Buy a meal in advance for a hungry person)
SUSPENDED MEALS
The Facebook Page creates awareness and promotes a collection
of Suspended Meal programmes across Malaysia. The mission is to promote
the idea of feeding strangers and sharing kindness with others.
PAY IT FORWARD KUALA LUMPUR
Tel: +60 13-666 6667
CHARLIE'S CAFE & BAKERY
29, Jalan Bukit Desa 5,
29, Jalan Bukit Desa 5,
Taman Bukit
Desa
Kuala Lumpur
58100
Tel: +60 12-816 0003
FB: https://www.facebook.com/Mycharliescafe/
Charlie's Café owners (husband and wife) wanted to make a difference in peoples' lives and opened the cafe as a social enterprise with a heart. "Good Food for a Good Cause", they approach their mission through social service-and-community-first standpoint. The response to their "Pay It Forward" concept of paying RM5 as a donation and sticking it to a wall has been overwhelming!
CHOPE FOOD FOR THE NEEDY – KL CHAPTER
This online
charity movement collaborates with restaurants to provide food for the homeless
and frequent community centres in the Klang Valley to distribute meals. They
are always on the look out for volunteers who can contribute in any way; be it
be it monetary donations or man power, all are welcome.
MEALS FOR ALL
Frontera Sol of Mexico,
18-G-2, Palm
Square, Jaya One,
72A, Jalan
Universiti,
46200
Petaling Jaya
Selangor
Malaysia
Tel: +60 12-292 8096
FB: https://www.facebook.com/MealsForAll
Meals For All was started by Ramesh Vadiveloo, the
restauranteur behind Frontera, the Mexican food joint in Jaya One. They accept
public donations via online pledges on their Facebook page for suspended meals
at RM7 each. Meals For All distributes the food to various soup kitchens in the
Klang Valley.
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| SINGAPORE |
A
secular, non-affiliated charity, Willing Hearts is wholly run by volunteers, apart from a handful of staff. It
operates a soup kitchen that prepares, cooks and distributes about 5,000 daily
meals to over 40 locations island wide, 365 days a year. Beneficiaries include
the elderly, the disabled, low income families, children from single parent
families or otherwise poverty stricken families, and migrant workers in
Singapore.
Willing Hearts is a registered as a society
with the Ministry of Home Affairs since February 2005 and as a charity with the
Ministry of Social and Family Development since December 2008.THE SOUP KITCHEN PROJECT (SINGAPORE)
Blog: https://postmuseum.wordpress.com/the-soup-kitchen-project/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/thesoupkitchenprojectsg
They hope to contribute to making life a little easier for the needy in Singapore.
If you want to be a volunteer with the Soup Kitchen Project team, please contact Tay Shi Ying, the volunteer co-ordinator, via SMS 98423287.
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The heart-touching YouTube music video at the top of the post, ONE WORLD ONE SONG, sung by Dionne Warwick and Joe McElderry which was the "Ending Hunger" anthem for World Hunger Day 2013 is like a clarion call from God to each of us. Please do take a few minutes to let the the beautiful lyrics touch your soul!
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