Although the white flag movement or #KibarBenderaPutih has misplaced a lot of its virality in the previous weeks, it doesn’t imply that there are not people and households in determined want of help. At the identical time, the work isn’t over for these prepared to help.
Many companies have taken it upon themselves to provide help packages to help the needy, and customary folks have additionally banded collectively to begin useful initiatives.
There’s no finish but to the sites and apps which have been popping up, meant to spotlight these in want and/or the areas of meals banks. Based mostly on what we’ve discovered up to now, listed here are 6 such native platforms.
1. Feed Selangor
Behind Feed Selangor are three 19-year-olds with no background in IT. As they watched the white flag movement develop, they have been compelled to do what they may to help.
The way it works: On it, you’ll find the regular meals financial institution locators, although primarily targeted on these inside Selangor and KL. Nevertheless, the youth behind Feed Selangor have been conscious that some individuals’s wants went past meals.
Therefore, in addition they have a web page the place individuals can find help for his or her psychological wellbeing, and one other for individuals to volunteer their manpower at numerous organisations serving to the needy. If you want to donate immediately to organisations, there’s a “Donate” web page that lists beneficiaries.
Issues to notice: Feed Selangor isn’t a website the place you possibly can submit requests for help, until you might be an organisation needing volunteers. Subsequently, there isn’t a signup or login course of. The one level the place you’d have to present private data is if you’re making use of to volunteer.
The location is accessible in English and BM.
Use this if:
- You need to find a extra organised record of meals banks in sure areas to request for help for your self or on the behalf of another person;
- You need help to your psychological wellbeing;
- You need to volunteer at organisations to help the needy;
- You need to donate to organisations serving to the needy.
2. foodbank-MY
Created by 2 software program engineers, Zulkarnain Abdullah and Ilyas Foo, foodbank-MY seems to be primarily a website the place you possibly can simply find meals financial institution areas on a map.
The way it works: On the map, you’ll see meals basket icons or yellow and inexperienced dots. These dots point out what number of meals banks (which embrace people providing help) are concentrated inside that space.
For these requesting help, you need to allow your location companies so that you may be pinpointed extra precisely on the map. The data you possibly can depart contains your identify, telephone quantity, or e-mail deal with, and the kind of help you want. These providing help undergo the same course of, however share what they’ll present as an alternative.
Issues to notice: The location doesn’t make it obligatory for you to depart your particulars, whether or not you’re somebody in want or providing help. This implies that you could be have the ability to find meals banks or the needy on the map, but when they didn’t depart a quantity or e-mail, it will nonetheless be extraordinarily onerous to contact them in the first place.
Nevertheless, it seems that many, if not all, of the meals financial institution areas listed have had their data taken from different sites like Sambal SOS or Kita Jaga Malaysia. foodbank-MY consolidates this data in a single map, probably giving customers extra choices as a meals financial institution could also be listed on one website, however not on the different.
The location is accessible in English and BM.
Use this if: You want a place to begin to find meals banks, however know that you probably have to head to the different sites so as to get extra data (the hyperlinks to such are given in every meals financial institution’s card on foodbank-MY).
3. Kita Jaga Malaysia
Upon seeing the profit of digitalising the white flag movement, Terato Tech, an app growth firm in Bangi, created Kita Jaga Malaysia to help the public. Some notable merchandise by the group earlier than this have been CIMB Clicks, Malaysia Airways Going Locations, Axiata Cup, and extra.
The way it works: Utilizing Google Maps software programming interface (API), the website shows purple and blue pins, which showcase white flags and meals banks in an space respectively.
Requesting or providing help is easy with no registration required. Simply present your identify, telephone quantity (non-obligatory for these providing help), and what you want/can offer in help.
Terato Tech has been consistently updating the interface, and one of its largest advantages at the second is that as an alternative of a telephone quantity that one has to copy-paste, it offers a direct name and WhatsApp button to attain beneficiaries.
The group can also be working with GoGet to offer a “Hantar Barang” choice for contactless deliveries between suppliers and the needy. Do notice that this service isn’t free, and the suppliers could have to bear the price.
Issues to notice: Kita Jaga Malaysia is at present accessible as an app on iOS units, with the group stating that an Android model is being developed.
In its efforts to minimise scamming, the website/app can even present helpers with a warning if a purple pin (white flag) they’ve clicked on has used the identical telephone quantity a number of instances to request for help in the previous. The location is simply accessible in BM.
Use this if: You need to be simply reached once you request help, or to have a simple means to present help. Terato Tech continues to be bettering the website over time primarily based on customers’ suggestions, so it’s one of the most lively sites for the white flag movement at the second.
Honorary point out: One website that performs extraordinarily comparable capabilities is KitaBoleh!, with one of the primary variations being that it’s accessible in English, BM, and Mandarin, making it extra accessible to the public. One other distinction is that KitaBoleh!’s requests for help have their wants neatly categorised so helpers can inform what they require at a look.
4. Ma-Kasih
Ma-Kasih is a venture based by Shern Low and developed by a group of 11 Malaysians who’re at present residing throughout the world in areas like London, New York, Sydney, and many others. They embrace graduate college students and dealing professionals who needed to do one thing to help fellow Malaysians.
The way it works: Comparable to the aforementioned sites, Ma-Kasih connects help suppliers to these in want. However not like the different two, it doesn’t showcase the areas of meals banks throughout Malaysia.
These requesting help on Ma-Kasih have to present their deal with, quantity of beneficiaries, their telephone quantity, what help they want, and a 4-digit PIN quantity that can be required to make adjustments to their requests later. You may tick the Halal or vegetarian weight loss plan choices for those who fall under both dietary restriction.
For those who’re providing help, you possibly can click on on the “wave” emoji that represents a family in want, and get in touch with the offered quantity immediately or drop off some care packages to the deal with. Ma-Kasih has offered a useful button that enables you to purchase meals or groceries on foodpanda to be immediately despatched to the deal with too.
Issues to notice: Ma-Kasih has a separate button that enables you to request for help on behalf of another person. To entry it from the homepage, nonetheless, as an alternative of clicking “I Want Help”, click on “I Need to Help”.
This can deliver you to the full map, and you will note a blue “Report for Others” button. To help on somebody’s behalf, you will want to know their basic deal with, and you’ll present your telephone quantity for those who don’t know theirs. Volunteers can then contact you for additional data to attain the beneficiary.
The location is accessible in English, BM, and Mandarin.
Use this if: You’re afraid your request for help could go unnoticed on the extra saturated sites like Kita Jaga Malaysia, or in order for you to simply ship some scorching meals or small groceries to the needy with the click on of a couple of buttons.
5. Sambal SOS
Beforehand generally known as the Bendera Putih app, it’s been rebranded to Sambal SOS so as to lengthen its goal previous the movement. It was created in a matter of Four days by Malaysian scholar volunteers with software program creating expertise.
The way it works: You may filter meals financial institution or SOS icons on the map to scale back muddle for those who’re visiting the website for a selected goal.
These requesting help (“Report SOS”) ought to add a picture of the entrance of their house or a WhatsApp dialog (for those who’re requesting help on somebody’s behalf), present an deal with, remarks on what’s wanted, and a telephone quantity.
The meals financial institution areas listed come from crowdsourcing, and are thus fairly barebones with no rapid contact quantity accessible.
If you need to help, you need to attain out immediately to the SOS areas, since there’s no choice to create a pin that showcases your location as a helper. For those who’re a meals financial institution, you possibly can fill on this kind to let the group know and be added to the map.
Issues to notice: Every SOS report can be reviewed by an individual for authenticity, and can both be authorized or rejected inside 24 hours. To keep away from scammers, Sambal SOS additionally requires that you just login with both a Google account or your Fb.
When you have hassle with accessing the website after logging in, clearing your browser cache and refreshing the web page ought to work. The location is accessible in English, BM, and Mandarin.
Use this if: You need to request help or offer help immediately to these in want with the assurance that every request is personally reviewed by the group to scale back scams.
6. Waymaker
Waymaker isn’t a website that was created for the goal of the white flag movement, but it surely’s gained extra traction following that. It first went stay on February 14, 2021 after founder and CEO Arun Kumar realised that rather a lot of help was often prolonged on an organisational degree, which might cater to the basic plenty.
However what this meant was that particular individuals with particular wants would nonetheless have their requests go unfulfilled. Therefore, Waymaker was began as an answer to deal with this hole.
The way it works: Relatively than utilizing a map perform, Waymaker went the extra private route by showcasing listings of requests. This allows customers to instantly see who’s posting the request, what they want, who it’s for, and the place they’re at, fairly than being overwhelmed by numerous icons on a map.
Customers who need to request or offer help should create an account on the website, the place you’ll present commonplace profile data, together with your gender, spoken language, ethnicity, and faith.
This specificity is required as a result of Waymaker permits requesters to choose particular demographics that may have the ability to see their requests. For instance, you possibly can select in order for you help for wants which can be gender, tradition, language, or age group-specific.
Those that can see these requests can then reply to offer help, and the requesters can decide who they need to attain out to. As soon as that’s carried out, the responder can then contact the requester. This avoids potential battle or having your data get simply unfold.
Issues to notice: As a result of requests are managed in a selected means on Waymaker, it’s doubtless that the general course of for offering and discovering help could also be a lot slower than on the different sites. Nevertheless, in case your requests aren’t extraordinarily pressing, then Waymaker’s methodology helps make sure that your wants are higher fulfilled.
For those who come throughout a request that you just really feel could also be inappropriate or suspicious, you possibly can report it for the group to overview. This website is accessible in English.
Use this if: You want help however are not looking for your data and request to be too publicised, and for those who want to have tailor-made responders who can correctly fulfil your wants.
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On this record is a combination of extraordinarily lively sites like Kita Jaga Malaysia and Sambal SOS, and sites with fewer listings (of white flags or meals banks alike) like Ma-Kasih and Waymaker.
Regardless, every website has its personal goal and differs in methods, so you possibly can decide to strive one that matches your wants higher, whether or not you’re requesting or providing help.
As Malaysians unite to help out each other, let’s not betray the belief of these providing help by being too grasping and taking greater than what you want. By doing so, you might be jeopardising the alternatives for others in want to obtain help and discouraging kindhearted individuals from persevering with to offer help.
At the identical time, if you’re somebody providing help, please be certain to abide by the authorities’s SOPs and guarantee that you’ve the correct permissions to run a meals financial institution or comparable.
Lastly, as the needy and people providing help put out their private contacts and areas in good religion that they’ll be used as meant, we should always keep away from misusing the data for in poor health intentions.
- You may learn extra charity-related articles right here.
Featured Picture Credit score: Ma-Kasih / Kita Jaga Malaysia