Cindy Chan gets free food from a “Gift and Take” fridge at a food court in Dragon Centre shopping centre.Cindy Chan, in her forties and donning a tattered and stained face mask, desperately sweeps items such as biscuits and canned food into her bag from a “Gift and Take” fridge at a food court in Dragon Centre shopping centre in Sham Shui Po.
She survives on HK$2,000 disability allowance monthly, and has sought employment but to no avail. She now gets by doing casual jobs. A spokesman for the Social Welfare Department said it had commissioned NGOs to operate a short-term citywide food assistance service to provide food for the needy for up to eight weeks, and which could be extended for another eight.
Chan had once tried approaching NGOs for free lunchboxes, but those she contacted turned her down saying they only gave out free meals to the elderly, according to her. He noted a 20 per cent rise in demand for his lunchbox distributions, which involves handing out 4,000 packed meals monthly to people such as the elderly, members of ethnic minority groups, street-sleepers and others living on scraps.
Under the scheme, approved users are given 45 coupons every month to collect cook-chill meals at automated food dispensers in various districts for up to a year. The service aims to relieve the financial burden on those affected by Covid-19.