Creative Juice collect unwanted meals to provide the ‘Happiest Meals’ for the homeless in KL
A group of inspired youths from Creative Juice Kuala Lumpur made good out of the Minion Toy storm that has hit Malaysia recently by organising over 200 meals shared to the needy in less than a day.
While others saw only the McDonald’s Happy Meal craze, Creative Juice designer, Lee Xin Yi and her team saw an idea in the “Happiest Meal” to turn frowns into smiles by collecting excess meals purchased by the public and delivering it to those who truly needed them. The Minion Toy craze in Malaysia has seen people buying the Happy Meal promotion just for the Minion Toy that is included, and then throwing away the actual meal. With McDonald’s outlets limiting the public to a Minion toy per Happy Meal, outlets across the country have been struggling to cope with the recent craze. Social media sites have exploded with videos and photos of Malaysians queuing from midnight to sunrise for a piece of the latest Happy Meal toy.
Yesterday, from midnight to 4:00am, the Creative Juice team set out on their initiative at McDonald’s Mont Kiara and Pusat Bandar Damansara to collect over 60 unwanted meals and personally hand them out to the homeless in Kuala Lumpur. Then, from 8:00am to 2:00pm, they gathered over 100 meals to share with The Pusat Penjagaan Kanak-Kanak Cacat Taman Megah.
“We felt guilty for all the money spent on the Happy Meals just for those Minion toys, so we came up with the idea to donate the meals to those in need of food,” said VJ Anand, creative director of Creative Juice KL.
With the social media site Facebook, the Happiest Meal has received strong backing from thousands in just two nights. “We are truly overwhelmed with the support that the Happiest Meal has received. On Facebook and even when we are on the streets collecting meals, everyone we’ve met has expressed their encouragement. It has opened our hearts and hopefully, for all Malaysians’ too,” Lee said.
“At the moment, we do not have a target to achieve with the amount we collect. We are taking what the public has given with open arms and hopefully, we are able to give it to the needy while the meals are still hot,” Anand said.
Next week marks another wave of Minions for Malaysia, and the Happiest Meal team will be doing their best to share the warmth of a meal with the needy.
The team from Creative Juice hopes that their initiative, the Happiest Meal will bring about a positive change to the daily lives of Malaysians. “Our team has the talent to communicate through creativity, and creativity inspires people. If this movement can inspire Malaysians to care more for each other, then we know that as an agency, we have done right with our talents,” Anand said.