A couple was exposed to Covid-19 in their workplace and was forced to undergo home quarantine. After settling themselves, they were shock to learn that their respective parents were running out of food. They immediately sought help from One Hope Charity hoping that food could be sent over to their elderly parents.

The Covid-19 pandemic has overburdened the public health system; and now, it also caused food shortage to certain group of people.

A few days ago, One Hope Charity received a call for help from Madam Goh, stating that she and her husband were tested positive for Covid-19 and they have to be quarantined at home. She added that no one could help to take care of their respective parents, who normally relied on them to replenish food and groceries. She was worried that their elderly parents might run out of food, so she called up to seek immediate assistance from One Hope Charity.

39-year old Madam Goh from Bukit Mertajam said that she and her husband have always been responsible for purchasing cooking ingredients, groceries, dry food and other necessity items, and send it over to their parents’ homes on weekends so that they could have enough food supply for a week. However, in late August, the couple was exposed to Covid-19 in their workplace, and had to undergo home quarantine.

After they went through all the procedures and finally settled down, they discovered that their parents were no longer having enough food, and they quickly sought help from One Hope Charity.

She said that although she has other siblings, but all of them are away from Penang and could not send in food supplies to their parents in time. When asked why she did not choose online delivery services, she claimed that online shopping was time consuming and troublesome. Furthermore, she had to look for different sellers for different items; and her parents could not get the items quickly.

It was learnt that the elderly parents had previously applied for One Hope Charity’s food aid, but due to the time-consuming logistic issue, they could not wait for the food to be posted to them and asked if One Hope Charity could accelerate the food delivery process.

After understanding their situation, One Hope Charity’s volunteers immediately sent some cooking ingredients and dry food to the two elderly couples.

Madam Goh’s 79-year-old father and 70-year-old mother are staying in Bukit Mertajam. As they are unable to drive, they usually relied on their daughter to send food supplies and groceries to them every week. When One Hope Charity volunteers sent over the food aid to them, the father said that there was only half a packet of rice left in their house. Their biscuits and other dry food were also almost finished. They did not know what to do if One Hope Charity did not send over food aid to them.

Madam Goh’s father-in-law, 62, and mother-in-law, 60, are also staying in Bukit Mertajam. The elderly couple are taking care of their 4-year-old grandson. When the volunteers sent over the food aid, they claimed that they have been surviving on breads given by their neighbours for the past few days, and they were grateful that One Hope Charity offered the help they needed.

The donations from the public enabled One Hope Charity to provide food assistance to families in need. We hope that the couple could continue to take care of their parents after recovering from Covid-19. We also pray that everyone could be safe and healthy, and stay away from Covid-19.

Donations Link