Meet Gary Liew, founder of Street Feeders

A group of young people would purchase packets of Nasi Lemak Bumbung from a nearby eatery and distribute them to the homeless people around the area in front of St John’s Cathedral and engage them where they were.

Feb 26, 2016

By Marcus Peter
A group of young people would purchase packets of Nasi Lemak Bumbung from a nearby eatery and distribute them to the homeless people around the area in front of St John’s Cathedral and engage them where they were. This consistent Act of Love grew and drew many others, developing today into an NGO called the Street Feeders of KL.

Street Feeders of Kuala Lumpur have been extending their Love and generosity to the homeless, destitute and urban poor every fortnightly Wednesdays since the year 2011. ?

An average night for them would see 300 to 400 people being reached out to, and cared for. Their assistance spans the entire area from Jalan Petaling, the Kota Raya shopping centre to Jalan Masjid India.

What sets the Street Feeders apart from most of the initiatives to assist and feed the homeless is that, while they aim for the long term goal of zero homelessness and destitute people within Kuala Lumpur, the ultimate aim of the group is to “humanize the individual.”

As their founder, Gary Liew, says, “what we are trying to do is to bring back to them the dignity of being human — that when we look at them, there is no stigma attached to them; no judgment, no label. They are as we are, people. All we are doing, then, is to reach out, to listen to and care for them. We spend our evenings listening to them share and sharing with them as well.” This reflects the depth of the realization that, as St Augustine of Hippo would say, “but for the Grace of God, there go I.”

His Role Models

One of his most notable services, would be his long stint as an altar server with his parish. From a young age, Gary always exhibited a desire to serve, and it never stopped short of service upon the altar.

Gary’s mother, Christabel Rozario, spent many years contributing her time and resources to the service of the homeless and the needy. From the time Gary was 12 years old, he recalls how his mother would contribute at least one day a week to cooking and serving with the Bukit Nanas soup kitchen nearby.

While this witness of life that his mother exhibited proved to be a catalytic encounter in Gary’s life, what became, perhaps, the overarching experience was Gary’s relationship with a man he affectionately remembers as Uncle Carl (Carl D’Cunha).

As Gary shares, “it was simple, the way in which uncle Carl would talk to, and engage, the homeless people he would encounter. He humanized them. He made them feel like they had a genuine sense of worth and dignity. He didn’t look at them any differently but with the eyes of Love. It is this credo now that I use in training our volunteers. Every person who wants to be a part of Street Feeders of Kuala Lumpur will learn that, first and foremost, we are here to Love them as human beings...”

The Call

In 2008, Gary Liew attended the World Youth Day celebration in Sydney, Australia. It was at this event that Gary felt compelled by the words spoken by Pope Benedict XVI when he said, “Dear young people, let me now ask you a question. What will you leave to the next generation? Are you building your lives on firm foundations, building something that will endure? Are you living your lives in a way that opens up space for the Spirit, in the midst of a world that wants to forget God, or even rejects Him in the name of a falsely-conceived freedom? How are you using the gifts you have been given, the “power” which the Holy Spirit is, even now, prepared to release within you? What legacy will you leave to young people yet to come? What difference will you make?”

Gary took these words to much to heart that he eventually participated in a mission trip to Kenya, in East Africa. Coming back to Malaysia after his stint in Kenya, Gary came to a humbling realization, that there was, indeed, much to be done in Malaysia.

His spirit felt moved to reach out to the homeless in Kuala Lumpur and, to him, it seemed as if it were a natural decision, “I didn’t know what I wanted to do, or how I was going to do it. All I knew was, this was a need that was not being met properly. Few people seemed to be interested in it. All I wanted to do was feed them.”

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