Volvo Trucks Malaysia will be donating a Volvo rigid truck complete with customised body fabrication to the Kechara Soup Kitchen Society (KSK), a registered non‐profit organisation that provides food sustenance and basic medical care for the homeless and poor communities in Malaysia.
Food collection
The truck, once handed over to KSK, will serve as a multi-purpose vehicle for food collection and distribution, mobile clinic and mobile space for educational activities for poor communities in the rural areas.
The decision to donate a truck to KSK was a logical one, given that all their charity work is fully in line with Volvo Trucks’ core values of quality, safety and environmental care. KSK has been actively running a food bank programme and had been facing several logistical challenges. Thus, a heavy-duty truck can truly help KSK to operate more effectively for the benefit of the communities.
Mobile clinic
KSK was founded in 2006 as a non-profit organisation that offers street distribution of free food, drinks and basic first aid to the homeless and those in need, regardless of race or religion. Over the years, KSK had also established mobile clinic that gives free health checks and counselling services to the homeless and poor, and a food bank programme through partnerships with corporations such as Tesco, AEON and The Westin Hotel.
The organisation operates based on its motto ‘Hunger Knows No Barriers’ and its belief that compassion for the less fortunate should be as wide reaching as possible. Since it started, KSK has delivered over 1.5 million meals to-date.
Increase the efficiency
Henry Ooi, President of KSK said, “We are very honoured to receive this generosity from Volvo Trucks Malaysia. Through our food bank programme, we collect large amount of food surpluses from donors and deliver to multiple locations on a daily basis. In doing so, our drivers had to make multiple trips as we only have a small vehicle.
This truck donation by Volvo Trucks will undoubtedly increase our efficiency and capacity, enabling us to save time and food wastage. We will definitely be able to help more people in the community too. For this, we are immensely grateful.”
Handover 2020
On the truck donation, it will take a few months to have the truck fully ready from designing, planning and building the customised truck body to handling matters concerning licensing and approvals. Thus, the actual handover of the completed truck is expected to take place in the first quarter of 2020.
Apart from donating the truck with customized body fabrication, Volvo Trucks Malaysia will also be covering the costs for acquiring Goods Driving License (which is required to operate heavy-duty vehicles in Malaysia) for the drivers and truck repair and maintenance. On top of that, a free driving training will also be provided for KSK’s truck drivers on how to maximise all the safety and fuel-efficient features of the Volvo FM truck.
Better understanding
Meanwhile, customers and employees of Volvo Trucks Malaysia are encouraged to get involved and volunteer at the Soup Kitchen, not only to getting a better understanding on the need of the underprivileged community but with the hope to garnering more volunteers for KSK charity work in long run.
Facts Seasonal gift 2018
On behalf of all employees, Volvo Group donates a yearly gift to charitable work. Through the Volvo Group Seasonal gift 2018, seven projects have received funding from the Volvo Group in the name of its employees. The purpose of the seasonal gift is to make a difference in the local communities, close to markets and employees.
The nature of the receiving projects can be external, internal or a joint project between Volvo Group and an external organization. This is a way to support societal causes by being a good corporate citizen and drive prosperity in practice.