Feed The Hungry And Satisfy The Needs Of The Oppressed, And Your Light Will Rise!

Such is the T.A.S.K (short for “The Assembly Soup Kitchen”) run by a husband and wife team  Soo Mun Keong, 42 and Wong Suet Beng, 40. Hailing from an engineering and pastoral ministry background, Mun Keong and Suet Beng, whilst caring for a young family of 3 children, an eight-year-old daughter and a pair of 5-year-old boy-girl twins,  still found the time and energy to feed the needy out of the kitchen in their home in Subang Jaya, Selangor during the first lockdown in March 2020.

T.A.S.K started producing 30 hot meals a day, to 50 meals, then 100 meals and graduated to 3,000 meals a week. When asked how this mission started, Suet Beng (referred to by her husband as “the one with the big heart”) said she knew the needs of refugees living in flats near Bandar Sunway. They needed food as they had lost their income during the Covid19 lockdown starting in March 2020. Although cooking is not something that this couple engages in, even for their family meals, the desire to help the hungry and in need causes them to rise to the occasion. Suet Beng shared her personal belief that God can use anyone to serve Him despite their weaknesses. In fact, because of our shortcomings, that is when God’s light will shine even brighter. (2 Corinthians 12:9)

The details of His provision to enable this T.A.S.K to progress and enlarge its feeding from 3,000 to a whopping 15,000 a month to date lies in the acquisition of an industrial kitchen in Glenmarie, Shah Alam, Selangor. They moved to Glenmarie kitchen in Aug 2020. Prior to this provision, the soup kitchen’s hot meals were prepared in the home kitchens of volunteers and members of their church called Community Baptist Church.

God being a God of the order, first gave a dream to Suet Beng in 2018. She dreamt of a one-acre land transaction in Jitra, Kedah, at RM300 per square foot. At this point, her dream made no sense,  but this couple held on to God’s promise of provision in this dream, and in one year, God prepared the downpayment needed for a company of theirs as part of the purchase price in August 2019.

In September 2019,  Suet Beng attended a property auction in court where the property in Glenmarie, Shah Alam, was being auctioned off  30% below market value. It was the third time the property was being auctioned, and the court had barred the other interested party from bidding, which was instrumental to avail the bidding by Suet Beng alone to be successful!

Subsequent logistics revealed the detailed divine plans put into place by God as revealed to Suet Beng in her dream. After taking possession of the said property, it was discovered that a tenant was already renting the land for car parking purposes. This tenant also required part of the building that stood on the land for his staff that he is transferring over from Jitra, Kedah. On engaging an architect to renovate and refurbish the building, the quote was (not surprisingly) a price of RM300 per square foot. These factual confirmations encouraged Suet Beng and Mun Keong to forge ahead.

God miraculously organised financial provisions ahead of a worldwide pandemic and our nation’s lockdown on 18 March 2020. Keys to this Glenmarie property were handed over in January 2020. The refurbishment took a month and finished at the end of February 2020. On 15 March 2020, the first floor of the building and the car park was rented out to the tenant. Three days later, Malaysia was in lockdown. The rental covered the bank loan on this property and was crucial to the beginning of the soup kitchen. Since August 2020, cooking and packing of the hot meals have been done on the ground floor of this property which spans an area of 20,000 square feet. God knew exactly what He was providing for. He planned every detail precisely and methodically to meet every logistic and financial need. 

This industrial kitchen in Glenmarie has 200 volunteers working every week on rotation. Approximately 50 volunteers cook and help to pack the hot meals on Saturdays. It serves 12,000 to 15,000 hot meals in a month. Care packs are also distributed from this centre. The direct beneficiaries are:

• refugees’ community, orang asli, B40, homeless in Klang Valley and KL city;
• refugee schools in Subang Jaya;
• LATCHKEY children in the after-school program;
• flood victims, East Malaysia and B40 communities in the Sri Muda area and Subang
• street feeding in KL.

The indirect beneficiaries (as it is more blessed to give than to receive) are:

• volunteers from the community, churches, NGOs, and partners in street feeding;
• individuals who are desirous of serving to feed the poor, for example, an aunty volunteer whose dream is to do so but did not have a platform like T.A.S.K.;
• pre-believers who came to know the Lord after participating in T.A.S.K. and witnessing God’s love in action.

However, starting and implementing such a mountainous task is not without its setbacks. Being an excellent steward, Mun Keong very candidly shared the learning curves and mistakes in managing the donations and resources God has granted.

Although financial donations are welcomed, it is stressed that donations of the staple ingredients needed for the preparation of the hot meals, for example, rice, oil, frozen proteins, vegetable produces, eggs and dry goods, are highly encouraged. Volunteering and serving are other aspects that are encouraged. 

According to Mun Keong, the key to engaging in a mission of this nature is to find like-minded people who are passionate about feeding the poor and hungry and concerned about their healthcare and needs. In addition to the feeding, care packs are also given out to those in need and the tune of 1,000 a month during the peak months of the pandemic in July and August of 2021.

Besides the soup kitchen, in December 2021, T.A.S.K. volunteers were among the first group to go to the aid of flood victims and, together with other NGOs and public members, helped extract families from their submerged homes at Taman Sri Muda, Shah Alam. Food was distributed to those in need during that critical time, and subsequently, the aid continued providing hot meals, dried foods and cleaning products.

Mun Keong also shared that his concern has always been to check how to do the T.A.S.K. sustainably to obtain long-term financial, time, and effort support.   The fundamental motto is “TO TRUST GOD FOR EACH DAY AT A TIME”.

When asked about their plans, the answer is consistent with their motto: “Scaling to what God needs us to do. When we get more provisions or funds, we will do more. We do not stress about it. We do not worry about it. It is God who provides.”

This soup kitchen serves the hungry with heart. The intention is to restore the dignity of the needy by serving or handing over the food in person. The love of Christ is shown.

ISAIAH 58:10 is the governing scripture for T.A.S.K.

“if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.”

Nothing shines God’s love brighter than His love in action.

To donate or volunteer:

www.theassemblysoupkitchen.com

www.facebook.com/theassemblysoupkitchen

About Kim Khoo

Kim Khoo has been a believer since 1988 but, in 2010, was infused with God’s vision to be a catalyst of a paradigm shift in the minds of marketplace believers towards the fulfilment of the Great Commission. As a legal practitioner, wife and mother to two sons, her passionate pursuits include speaking, writing, cooking, dancing and singing.