00:00If you imagine having a family with 11 brothers and 3 sisters and the father is a lorry driver,
00:08in fact I have never witnessed food waste in my childhood.
00:13The sibling has to fight over what is on the table.
00:18Those childhood lessons never left him.
00:21Today, as the founder of Food Aid Foundation,
00:24Rick Chee has spent more than 10 years making sure fewer Malaysians go to bed on an empty stomach.
00:31My name is Rick Chee and I spent the last 40 years in the F&B industry and through my work
00:39I have seen so much food wastage all across the board from all sectors of the food service
00:46establishment from hotels, restaurants, manufacturers, importers of food and all
00:53this food has gone to waste and that's how I got the motivation. If there are donors
01:01and there are plenty of recipients, we only lack the intermediary, you know, as a middleman.
01:08So I thought it is a good concept, that's how I started Food Aid Foundation in 2013.
01:15Our mission basically is to rescue and recover surplus food, those food that are close to
01:21expiration, those food that are still good to eat but not good to sell commercially, you know.
01:28FMT Lifestyle visited their headquarters in Kuala Lumpur to see their work in action.
01:34Each day is different and this morning, operations begin early as their truck sets off to Pastry
01:40World in Sha'alam to collect baskets of bread for distribution. Chee explains that they partner
01:48with major grocers like Lotus to redirect surplus food to them instead of letting it go to waste in
01:54landfills. I came from a very poor family, I have experienced extreme poverty and to see so much
02:02food being wasted, that somehow triggers everything, that I have to do something.
02:08The truck then heads to various PPR homes in KL,
02:12ensuring the food is distributed equally to each household.
02:16At PPR Sri Sarawak, home to over 780 households,
02:21committee member Sharifah Rodia says Food Aid Foundation has been providing donations since 2019.
02:38Food Aid Foundation also rescues fresh vegetables from the Selayang market,
02:55produce deemed not pretty enough and otherwise discarded or resold cheaply.
03:01With a large kitchen at their headquarters, they are able to cook and deliver fresh meals
03:06to those in need. Supporting more than 70 welfare homes, Food Aid Foundation's impact
03:13extends across the Klang Valley as well as to other states. Beyond daily aid, they also respond
03:20to emergencies, providing relief during crises like the recent floods in Kelantan.
03:26In just one year, they have distributed close to 20 million ringgit worth of food.
03:31But while their impact is undeniable, Chee emphasises that lasting change is crucial.
03:37I think something bold must be done by our government to sort of put this as something
03:45educational for school because people fail to understand how much we save.
03:52People fail to understand how much resources have been put to cultivate or to grow food and
03:59we just throw it like nobody's business just because we are able. I think mother nature
04:06has been kind to us for too many years. We have to act on it before it's too late.
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