OUR IMPACT IN 2020
Everything in Malaysia changed when COVID-19 reared its ugly head in March 2020. In response to the surge in local cases, Malaysia's government imposed a nationwide lockdown - the Movement Control Order (MCO 1.0) - which came into effect on 18 March 2020.
There was a mad rush of people buying up all the groceries and medical supplies they could get. For many weeks after the initial mad rush, supermarket shelves remained stubbornly empty. Retailers struggled to catch up with overwhelming demand while supply trucks from Cameron Highlands and other food producers idled because they were not allowed to cross state lines. Supply chains all over the country stalled and ground to a halt.
When the MCO came into effect, all soup kitchens, including the Pit Stop Community Cafe (PSCC), were told to stand down. Nobody was allowed to distribute hot food on the streets without relevant permits but nobody knew what permits to get or how to get them. Agencies contradicted each other while we sat and waited for decisions to be made.
But we do not and have never stood idle while people starved. So we contacted suppliers, contributors and supporters and asked for their assistance on ways and means to navigate logistical nightmares and government red tape.
Our Earth Angels responded to our calls! They guided us through bewildering mazes of applying for official permits from the Police, the Road Transport Department, the Welfare Department, and other agencies and local authorities.
Slowly, painfully (and through trial and error), we successfully trucked in our first load of vegetables and fruits from Cameron Highlands within three weeks of the start of the MCO. Jackpot! We contacted the first batch of our beneficiaries who were running out or had run out of fresh food. We began distributing hardy vegetables and fruits - the first they had received since the MCO began. Since that first truckload of vegetables, we have been working long hours, sometimes at a breakneck pace, to keep hunger away from the doors of our beneficiaries.
Each time we thought that we would be completely overwhelmed by the sheer number of hungry and desperate people, there would be offers of help from our Earth Angels. And we could breathe a little until the next herculean push up the hill...
Thank you, our Earth Angels, wherever you may be, for all your help and support during the C-19 Pandemic.
Year 2020 Report Card
From 18th March to 31st December 2020, the Pit Stop Community Café (PSCC) have rescued, used and/or shared with our beneficiaries or partners a least 64.12 tonnes of food we deem as essentials.
NOTE: This chart does not track many items - for instance, meat, flour, sugar, milk, fruits etc. - that we rescued in 2020. It merely highlights seven of the biggest movers in terms of tonnage that we have successfully distributed between March and December 2020.
In total, we distributed 25.2 tonnes of rice (39.3%), 22.7 tonnes of vegetables (35.4%), 7.73 tonnes of potatoes (12%), 4.05 tonnes of sardines (6.3%), 2.86 tonnes of onions (4.45%) and 1.63 tonnes of cooking oil (2.5%). We also moved 94,935 eggs or the equivalent of 3164.5 trays of 30 eggs during that period.