Transit home to help NGO as food-distribution centre: Shahrizat

KUALA LUMPUR: The Anjung Singgah transit home is ready to serve as a centre to distribute food to the homeless to avoid food dumping and wastage, said National Welfare Foundation (YKN) Board of Trustees chairman Tan Sri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil.
She welcomed the idea as it would help non-governmental organisations contribute and distribute food to the homeless in a more orderly manner.
"We welcome the idea as our facilities are complete and organised. If DBKL (Kuala Lumpur City Hall) wants to use Anjung Singgah as one of its focal points to distribute food, it would not be a problem.
"It is better to use many other centres besides the National Mosque, the Anjung Singgah as well as other transit centres. We can distribute to the other centres and the NGOs can go there to distribute the aid," she said at the Sinar Kasih Ramadan event here today.
City Hall's Executive Director (Socio-Economic Development) Datuk Ibrahim Yusoff was reported to have urged NGOs which wanted to distribute food to the homeless to do so at suitable and organised places through the Anjung Singgah and three transit centres in the city to avoid food dumping and wastage.
Earlier, Shahrizat, who is also the Advisor of Women Entrepreneurship and Professional Development (KIW) in the Prime Minister's Department presented breaking-of-the-fast meals and contributions in conjunction with Aidilfitri to 500 homeless persons in the Klang Valley with the cooperation of the YKN and the SME Bank.
Shahrizat said Anjung Singgah which is managed by the YKN is not just a temporary housing for the homeless but also an intervention centre for these people to change their lives.
"The YKN Anjung Singgah is a social service centre which requires the homeless to undergo an intervention process and counselling sessions to identify their needs and find the best solution in order to give them a new life so that they could integrate into society or the community," she said.
Since it was set up in 2011, as many as 3,506 counselling sessions had been given to 4,410 homeless persons who are registered at five Anjung Singgah centres throughout the country. Of these, 3,234 have obtained jobs. — Bernama