Hao Taing, a Cambodian university student is stuck at home and unable to resume his studies in person back in the freezing winters of St Paul, the capital city of the state of Minnesota in the US. With little prior experience in non-profits, Hao started Local4Local, a non-profit organization that maintains the livelihoods of cyclo drivers, providing food and necessities to street dwellers in Cambodia.
Local4Local’s vision to create a “Community of Kindness” for the locals, by locals. In a few months, Local4Local has collaborated with NGOs and local initiatives to developed several charity campaigns, such as Cyclo Pantry, Futuristic Cyclo Competition, Cyclo Food Coupon, Creative Cyclo Tours, Local4Local Volunteers (L4LV), and many more.
A fleet of about 10 cyclos, usually operates from 9:30 – 10:30 a.m. and 4:00 – 5:00 p.m. spreading across the city to collect donated items and distribute them to people in need. Normally, all the cyclo pantries, also known as “Box of Kindness”, would be filled with non-perishable items and essentials like noodles, water, canned fish, and more per pantry. Sometimes there are clothes, shampoo, toothbrushes, ointments, and so forth.
All items in the cyclo pantry’s “Box of Kindness” are accessible to vulnerable people on the streets like garbage collectors, cyclo drivers, security guards, homeless people and others.
The cyclo drivers in charge of the cyclo pantries can also access the food and essentials inside the pantry for themselves and they earn a weekly wage as well paid by Local4Local.
Donors can also donate at the CCCA headquarters located behind Wat Koh anytime from morning to evening any day of the week at their own convenience.
According to local4localkh.org, phnompenhpost.com
