It was her love of writing, passion for cooking and the desire to empower marginalised youths that inspired Sheila Yeoh, 29, to come up with The Story Box, a food delivery service in Kuching.
About 4 years ago, Sheila began mentoring youths who were mainly from disadvantaged families and living in orphanages in Kuching.
She started out as a tutor at a boys’ home in town, teaching and mentoring the children there 3 times a week. Besides that, Sheila also volunteered with a few other non-governmental organisations in Kuching as well as working with the disabled communities.
“Somehow these welfare groups are linked and I came across a lot of youths who came from various disadvantaged backgrounds,” shared Sheila, who is a lawyer by profession.
A lot of them don’t do well in school and most leave without completing their SPM. This makes it difficult for them to secure any decent job or start their own business because they don’t get the same opportunities as someone who has completed SPM.
Most of the time, they are labelled as failures by society. Perhaps it is our Asian culture to think that if you are not good in school then you are a failure. I felt that it was unfair as these are bright kids,” said Sheila.
Frustrated with this bias treatment of the youths, Sheila wanted to do something to encourage and show them that they are no worse off than fellow students who are their age.
“I felt that doing something in the long term, being personally invested in their welfare was important. I wanted to tell their stories, so people would know their background, who they really are as individuals.
“Some of them have gone through practical training in cooking. So I thought it would be a good idea to combine writing and cooking. That is how The Story Box came about,” Sheila said.
The concept
The Story Box offers 3 different types of cuisines – Japanese, Western and Asian.
When a customer orders from the Japanese menu, for instance, their Story Box is delivered wrapped with a paper on which the story about the boy who prepared the food is printed on.
Hence, The Story Box.
“If the customer continue to order from the Japanese menu, he or she will get the next chapter of the boy’s story and so on. The same goes from the Western and Asian menu. The order will come with a story of the boy who prepared the food from either menu,” explained Sheila.
While the stories are based on true life, some names have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals in the story.
Sheila added that for the Western and Asian kitchen the boys are trained by her but for the Japanese kitchen, the young chef apprentices with a Japanese chef at a five star hotel.
“My mother helps with packing the lunch boxes and has struck up quite a rapport with the kids in the process,” Sheila said.
Goodness for the Heart & Soul
The Story Box team currently work from a home kitchen, although in the future they hope to set up a fully equipped kitchen.
“We are a small team and we’re quite happy to work from where we are now,” Sheila said.
However, it is the effort that goes into the preparation of the Story Boxes that is important.
“Our Story Boxes are lovingly put together by our team of unique young warriors who bravely fought to rise above their challenging circumstances through the honest work of their own two hands and the stubborn resilience of their hearts,” Sheila shared.
Sheila, whose love for cooking began when she used to cater small family events while living in New Zealand, said that all food from The Story Box kitchen are prepared using natural ingredients and no msg. All the materials used at The Story Box are biodegradable from the waterproof paper that Sheila writes her stories on to the wooden utensils that customers receive with their lunch.
Besides that, Sheila said that they are also looking into partnering with some of the local farms in Kuching to get organic and fresh produce, as they try to incorporate local vegetables into their cooking.
Story Boxes are available for order on Mondays, Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. Although they only deliver lunch orders for the time being, Sheila said that they do take on some small catering events.
The Story Box is priced at RM10 per box and offer 2 options per week. For more information on delivery areas and to order, contact 014-3338959.
