THE Sunway Group recently kicked off its nationwide Meal Pack-a-thon series in collaboration with international hunger relief agency, Rise Against Hunger.
For this year's nationwide meal pack-a-thon, Sunway is targeting to pack a total of 270,000 meals with the help of more than 650 Sunway volunteers group wide and student volunteers from various Sunway educational institutions throughout the country.
The 2022 pack-a-thon will take place in Sunway City Iskandar Puteri, Sunway Penang, Sunway City Ipoh and Sunway Velocity throughout the months of August and September.
These 270,000 meals will go to 4,500 beneficiaries from the underserved Orang Asli communities, orphanages, senior citizen homes and refugees across Malaysia. Sunway will also extend its food aid to the extreme poor in Sri Lanka amid the ongoing crisis in the country.
Since 2014 and to date, Sunway has packed one million meals which have been distributed to Orang Asli communities, refugees, urban poor and the underserved communities in Malaysia and Timor-Leste, as well as orphanages in Cambodia; with help from over 4,000 volunteers who have clocked in well over 22,000 volunteerism hours.
Every meal contains rice, lentils, dehydrated vegetables, and essential vitamins that make up a balanced diet.
Sunway's initiative to address food security and to combat hunger for the underserved communities has earned the recognition from the Malaysia Book of Records as having the largest food bank drive by any conglomerate in Malaysia.
To date, close to 190,000 kilograms of food has been packed and distributed to some 70,000 beneficiaries nationwide alongside long-term key partners.
The Sunway Food Bank meanwhile is the group's primary response to addressing national food security via a two-pronged approach. In addition to its role as a donor, the Sunway Food Bank acts as a platform for members of the public to contribute to the cause as well.
Donations collected from Sunway and the public are channelled to communities in need through the group's network of food-access organisations who ensure that beneficiaries receive their most visceral need.
Sunway is also addressing food security through organic and urban farming. As part of the group's commitment to sustainable food production, 20 acres of land in Sunway City Ipoh has been repurposed for the development of the Sunway Organic Farm – with the aim to produce at least 150,000 kilogrammes of pesticide-free fruits and vegetables by 2030 through organic farming.
Sunway XFarms meanwhile will soon launch Kuala Lumpur, becoming the city centre's largest urban indoor vertical farm. It is expected to produce at least 13,000 kilograms of pesticide-free vegetables per month for the urban population of Kuala Lumpur.