The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints donated more than 2.5 tons of food during a fifth wave of COVID-19 in Hong Kong, the Church’s Hong Kong Newsroom reported on April 8.
The donation is enough for about 6,000 meals provided by the Foodlink Foundation, a charity working to fight hunger and foster nutritional wellness and also partners with hotels and restaurants to reduce food waste.
“This donation does not only provide emergency food relief to the desperate communities but also injects positive energy to support the needy,” Aurea Yung, Foodlink’s head of operation, said of the March 25 donation.
The COVID-19 omicron variant surged in the city of 7.4 million earlier this year with pandemic related restrictions affecting employment. The foundation has recently received more urgent calls, Yung said.
Mickey Lui, the Church’s welfare and self-reliance manager for Asia, said there were challenges with finding delivery drivers and also sourcing canned food. The outbreak also led to fewer available drivers and logistics workers available to transport and handle deliveries.
“But knowing how much the community needed help, our colleagues worked tirelessly to find food suppliers that had the stock and could arrange the delivery,” Lui said. “We were able to make it happen because of the collective effort.”
The Church donated noodles and canned food to Foodlink, and other organizations gave them rice, masks and test kits.
“Although these organizations came to us separately, together, their synergized contribution made all the difference for the community,” Yung said.
The Church has previously partnered with FoodLink Foundation for gift bags for children at Christmas and a food drive last summer.
