During the Meal Pack-a-thon at Sunway City Iskandar Puteri (SCIP), more than 100 Sunway volunteers from various business divisions in Johor packed almost 50,000 meals. This event, held at Sunway International School, is a part of Sunway Group’s overall promise to pack two million meals for the nation’s underprivileged communities before the company turns 50 in 2024.
According to Chief Executive Officer of Sunway City Iskandar Puteri Gerard Soosay, this programme is in line with Sunway’s dedication to the 17 Sustainable Developmental Goals (SDG) of the United Nations, particularly UN-SDG 2: Zero Hunger, which aims to eradicate world hunger by 2030.
The Sunway Meal Pack-a-thon is part of #SunwayforGood, the Group’s award-winning corporate social responsibility umbrella that pledges to promote sustainability and social responsibility efforts through three areas namely education, healthcare, and community enrichment.
Through the Sunway READ (Reading Enhances Aspiration and Drive) programme, Sunway aims to construct and renovate at least 50 libraries in the years leading up to its 50th anniversary in 2024. It also plans to pack two million meals for undernourished communities and conduct basic health screenings for 50 Orang Asal communities in collaboration with the National Kidney Foundation.
“We are proud to share that between 2014 to 2022, 210,000 meals have been packed in Johor alone. It is indeed a privilege for SCIP to be able to contribute towards such a worthy cause again in 2023 and we will continue to advance the UN-SDGs throughout the region. It heartens us to know that, in some small way, we have alleviated some of the hardships of those most in need.”
Since 2014, Sunway has packed over 1.3 million meals which have been distributed to Orang Asli communities, refugees, urban poor and the underserved communities in Malaysia and Timor-Leste, as well as orphanages in Cambodia; with help from thousands of volunteers who have clocked in well over 25,000 volunteerism hours.
“Sunway kicked off its nationwide meal pack-a-thon event series on 15 August 2023 at Sunway Pyramid, Sunway City Kuala Lumpur, with 80,000 meals packed by volunteers from Sunway and NGO partners. At SCIP, our volunteers were joined by student volunteers from Sunway International School and Sunway College Johor Bahru,” he said.
With the assistance of 700 Sunway volunteers from around the company as well as student volunteers from various Sunway educational institutions across the nation, Sunway hopes to pack a total of 330,000 meals during this year’s nationwide food pack-a-thon. The 2023 pack-a-thon held its second leg at Sunway Putra Hotel in addition to SCIP and Sunway Pyramid at Sunway City Kuala Lumpur, where an additional 80,000 meals were packed. Following SCIP, Sunway Penang, Sunway City Ipoh, and Sunway Velocity Mall in Kuala Lumpur will have more pack-a-thons.
This year, meals packed by Sunway and Rise Against Hunger will reach more than 5,500 beneficiaries, including Orang Asli communities in Perak, Kelantan and Pahang; orphanages, senior homes and refugee population throughout Klang Valley, Johor and Penang; the hardcore poor across Klang Valley, Penang, Perlis and Kedah, as well as the underprivileged in Timor-Leste.
Every meal contains rice, lentils, dehydrated vegetables, and essential vitamins that make up a balanced diet. Not only does this initiative effectively expand Rise Against Hunger’s food packaging capacity, it engages our people in a meaningful hands-on experience to translate love into action.
Sunway’s Ongoing Efforts to Address Food Security
Apart from CSR initiatives under the group’s flagship #SunwayforGood umbrella, Sunway is also addressing food security through organic and urban farming, in line with the group’s overarching commitment towards the 17 SDGs.
As part of the group’s commitment to sustainable food production, 20 acres of land in Sunway City Ipoh was repurposed for the development of Sunway Organic Farm – with the aim to produce at least 150,000 kilogrammes of pesticide-free fruits and vegetables by 2030 through organic farming.
In SCIP, Sunway XFarms is in the midst of setting up an urban farm at Sunway GRID Hub. In using 90% less water compared to traditional farming, Sunway XFarms is able to yield 10 times more produce with less than 5% on-farm wastage. Moreover, it ensures consistent high-quality produce, as they are grown in a safe and controlled environment, powered by a range of smart IoT sensors and cameras, which provide live analyses and information to the farm managers.
Furthermore, Sunway XFarms in Kuala Lumpur city centre’s is the largest urban indoor vertical farm. The new Sunway XFarms hub at Sunway Tower is expected to produce at least 13,000 kilogrammes of pesticide-free vegetables per month for the urban population of Kuala Lumpur. Sunway XFarms will further expand to one million square feet of decentralised smart farms in the near future to generate 32 million kilogrammes of produce per year.
