English 
Grace Community Services treated the poor and homeless to hot meals and a merry time during their Annual Christmas Banquet.
KUALA LUMPUR: It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Shopping malls are decked with Christmas trees, carols fill the air and children can barely contain their excitement about the presents under the tree.
But not everyone is as fortunate. For the poor and homeless, the festive season is no different from any other day in the lives.
Hope to bring a spark of joy this Christmas, Grace Community Services (GCS), a non-profit organisation, held its Annual Christmas Banquet for approximately 300 poor and homeless people last Sunday.
Speaking with FMT Lifestyle, one of the guests, Helen Chua, 68, said she had been attending the banquet for over 10 years. In fact, GCS has been organising these banquets since 2002.
“I like listening to Christmas carols. When they sing the songs, I feel the Christmas mood. Everybody enjoys themselves together as one big family,” she said, adding that this year, she was “very happy” to join the team of volunteers as well.
Another guest who enjoyed himself immensely was Eugene Lau, 46. “They are very friendly and see everyone as equal,” he said.
Speaking about the guests at the Christmas banquet, Teoh Feh Leong, a director of GCS, said: “With the homeless, sometimes they just made a mistake after doing well in their lives. They fell through the cracks and it’s difficult to climb up.” He said Christmas was a good opportunity to show love to them.
“Sometimes, they go for days without food. We should not take it for granted that it’s just a food package. It means a lot to a person who doesn’t have anything,” he added.
GCS was founded in 1990 by Reverend Henry K Pillai with the mission to “extend a helping hand to the needy by providing shelter to the homeless, food for the hungry, clothing for the naked and counselling for the distressed.”
Besides the annual Christmas event, GCS runs a feeding programme for the poor and homeless at their centre every Sunday at 5pm. They currently distribute meals to approximately 80 individuals, mostly elderly.
They also provide free basic medical and eye care, medications for minor ailments, medical referrals for serious conditions as well as psychotherapy and counselling sessions.
The centre is equipped with shower facilities and a “clothing bank” for those who would like to take a bath, shave and change into clean clothes – little things that most people take for granted, but make the world of difference to the homeless.
Meanwhile, volunteers of GCS’s “food bank”, located in its Klang headquarters, collects surplus food items from food manufacturers and supermarkets, among others, and distributes them to the hardcore poor.
GCS also has a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre known as “Grace Centre” and a home for unwed mothers with unplanned pregnancies called “Birthright.”
And through its various works, Edwin Marsden, 65, also a director of GCS, added that the organisation aims to restore dignity to the poor, homeless and others who are struggling in life. “That’s our vision: to bring them back to society,” he said.
For the Annual Christmas Banquet this year, each guest received a hot packed meal prepared by a team of volunteers which included students from Sunway University. They were also given a goody bag consisting of drinks, dry food and personal hygiene items.
The meals and goody bags were sponsored by Marigold, Julie’s, PHUTURE®, GE HealthCare, Sangla Foods, UCSI International School Subang Jaya and Peninsula International School Australia.
