“A mother cried as she looked at the picture of Amma by the entrance and said, ‘Thank you, Amma, for feeding my kids’.”

Sarojin leads Amma’s food bank, which opened its doors at the Sri Maha Maheswari Kaliamman temple in Puchong on June 3 and has seen up to 40 needy people queuing for food every day.

Within a week of operations, Amma’s food bank had saved 248 families from going hungry.

As the lockdown crushes jobs and livelihoods, low-income families have been unable to afford necessities like rice or milk powder.

The Amriteswari Foundation of Malaysia heard these cries for help, and plans were very quickly made to start Amma’s food bank using funds contributed by its members.

The plan is for the food bank to run until June 14, the last day of the Movement Control Order (MCO).

Every day, an average of RM1,400 in donations from the foundation’s members in Penang and Kuala Lumpur is spent to buy food for those in need.

Now, tears of happiness are shed as people from all across Puchong, Desa Mentari and Kinrara gather at the temple to keep their families fed.

Essentials like rice, sugar, bee hoon, milk powder, wheat flour, biscuits, Milo, tea, cooking oil and Maggi noodles are replenished every day.

“A Malay mother came by and thought it was only for the Indian committee, but I told her no, everyone can take it.

“She was working in a shoe shop in Puchong but the shop closed down due to the MCO. She is now jobless and has to care for her kids by herself as her husband passed away two years ago,” Sarojin shares.

Another story that struck a chord with her was of a mother of four whose husband had been involved in a serious accident three months ago. The woman, who has a special-needs child, has had to knock on her neighbours’ doors to plead for food.

Sarojin says she is immensely grateful to see people enter the food bank beaten and in need of assistance but leave in happy tears.

“It is a great thing that we can help and I see that people really appreciate it,” she says.

She thanks the members of the foundation for their generous contributions and adds that others, such as devotees of the temple, have also helped.

The food bank has caught the attention of Selangor executive councillor Ng Sze Han, who visited on June 6.

“He was really impressed and grateful that we’re helping the people in this area, and even served 150 packets of cooked food,” Sarojin says.

She estimates that Amma’s food bank will have helped 400 families by the time the MCO ends on June 14. If, however, the lockdown is extended, Sarojin wishes to keep the food bank open and hopes that support will continue to flow in to keep families from going hungry.

Amma’s food bank, located at the Sri Maha Maheswari Kaliamman temple on Jalan Bunga Raya in Puchong, is open to the needy between 4pm and 7pm until June 14. If you would like to donate to this worthy cause, contact Sarojin at 012-2738004.