In the heart of Kuala Lumpur, many people are struggling to get by, and for the blind and the homeless, daily life is even more of an uphill battle.

Thankfully, there are some who are willing to provide help and support, such as 71-year-old Tony Lian, the founder of charity organisation Food4U.

Lian, who is popularly known as Uncle Tony, has been feeding the city’s underprivileged since 2016. Given the prolonged nature of the movement control order and the severity of the current wave of Covid cases, the pensioner certainly has his work cut out for him.

“Since the start of the pandemic, we have been supporting those who have been badly affected,” Uncle Tony tells FMT.

Food4U provides cooked food and groceries, including staples such as rice, cooking oil and eggs, “to ensure they have food on the table without going out onto the streets and putting themselves at risk”.

The organisation has been working with other charity groups to set up food banks from which the needy can acquire provisions. This, however, comes with problems of its own.

“The poor in kampungs aren’t able to enjoy the benefits of these food banks because they lack the transport to come into the city to collect the foodstuff,” he says.

To address this, Uncle Tony has been directly interacting with village heads to identify households that need food aid.

“Many of these families are jobless and cannot fend for themselves. They don’t even have money to take a taxi or bus to travel to the city.

“Without the community heads, it is very difficult to know who actually needs help.”

The effectiveness of this approach was proven during a recent visit to Kampung Sungai Machang in rural Selangor, where 50 needy families were identified and provided with aid.

Selfish individuals

Despite Uncle Tony’s good intentions, some unscrupulous folks have been taking advantage of his generosity and depriving the truly needy of supplies.

There have been reported incidents of individuals “who can fend for themselves” taking more foodstuff than necessary. In one instance, a car filled with people from the same family took turns to hoard provisions for themselves.

“This is very irresponsible as the idea of the food bank is to spread the food between many families and different recipients,” Uncle Tony states.

Uncle Tony has also noted that the number of hungry people has been growing day by day.

He says Food4U usually feeds about 40 to 50 individuals in the Central Market area, but during a recent visit, nearly 120 needy people showed up – a clear indication there is not enough food for everyone.

“The pandemic has caused so much stress and suffering to the general public, particularly the B40 group, and many of them are in dire need,” he says.

He wishes he could assist those beyond the Klang Valley, but the current movement restrictions have not made this possible.

So what can Malaysians do to help Uncle Tony in his efforts? He suggests two ways – by volunteering to distribute food aid, or by donating essential items such as dry foodstuff and other staple goods.

As for what keeps him going, he says, “There are many people on the streets who need help. A story can be told solely from a person’s expression.

“When a face reads, ‘Thank you for coming and helping us’, that is an enormous motivation.”

He adds, “If I have one prayer, it would be for God’s blessing upon everybody to live a happy and fruitful life.”

Food4U carries out its social work on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Donations may be made to its distribution centre.

For more information, contact Uncle Tony at 017-8812666.

Food4U
4, Jalan P 2/18, Sekyen 2
Bandar Teknologi Kajang
43000 Semenyih, Selangor