#SunwayForGood Programme Brings Deepavali Cheer to 900 Needy Perakian School Children
To further enhance this Festival of Lights celebration, Sunway Group launched its #sunwayforgood Deepavali Cheer Programme to bring joy to 900 Perakian school children in need, at the Lost World of Tambun.
While many celebrate this festival with happiness, a delicious feast and large gatherings, the same sentiment is not shared by the underserved communities, especially those in the B40 community. Sunway Group hopes to ably bring cheer to the community this festive season.
Aside from bringing smiles to the community, this programme also aims to ensure the children’s long term future through education. Thus, the #sunwayforgood Deepavali Cheer included an educational tour at Lost World of Tambun; distribution of school supplies; upgrading of school libraries; and induction of ICT Literacy Aid programme.
The #sunwayforgood Deepavali Cheer programme supported by Perak EXCO Office, the Perak Education Department, and Friends of Mankind was designed as an urgent response to studies that showed even though there was a decline in dropout rate from 0.35% in 2016 to 0.29% in 2017, the highest dropout rate comprised of children from the B40 group due to their parents’ inability to meet school expenses.
Perak Health, Consumer Affairs, National Integration & Human Resources executive committee chairman-cum-Sungkai Assemblyman YB Sivanesan Achalingam who was present at the event commended Sunway Group’s initiative as one that is supportive of the Perak Government’s focus on uplifting the B40 households.
“The Perak Government has taken several positive steps such as the introduction of the Kad Prihatin Perak ration card, expansion of community farming projects, rebates on electricity bills, free water and training sessions for small plus medium entrepreneurs to assist the B40 community reduce their burden. Sunway Group’s initiative is of great importance as it helps the children and their families break the cycle of poverty through ensuring that children receive the education they deserve.”
Sunway City Ipoh Executive Director, Wong Wan Wooi said that the entire initiative was aligned to Sunway Group’s commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, aimed at sustainable and equitable development without leaving anyone behind.
“Our founder and chairman, Tan Sri Dr Jeffrey Cheah believes that education offers the best route out of poverty. We hope that by reaching out to these 900 primary students from B40 group and providing them with school necessities, the students will be motivated to pursue education for a brighter future. Our #sunwayforgood initiatives have reached out to 40,000 beneficiaries thus far, and we hope to be able to reach out to 50,000 beneficiaries by the end of the year.”
Education Tour at Lost World of Tambun
The programme was launched on 13th October where 160 school children from various schools including SJK(T) Klebang, SJK(T) Ladang Chemor, SJK(T) Kg Simee and SJK(T) Ladang Strathisla were invited for an educational tour at the Lost World of Tambun to learn about the various animals within the zoo as well as how to build terrariums.
Besides learning opportunity, the students were treated to a scrumptious luncheon at Lost World Hotel. Meanwhile, students received school supplies including school bags, stationery, water & food containers, multivitamins, tooth paste, mouthwash, as well as environmentally-friendly repurposed soap by Sunway Hotels & Resorts, from Wong Wan Wooi and YB Sivanesan Achalingam.
Back-To-School Initiative
Sunway Group continued its #sunwayforgood Deepavali Cheer programme with the distribution of school supplies on 14th October to another 740 students at SJK(T) Klebang, SJK(T) Ladang Chemor and SJK(T) Kg Simee.
The school materials were similar to those handed out the day prior. The items included school bags, stationery, water & food containers, multivitamins, tooth paste, mouthwash plus environmental-friendly repurposed soap from Soapful sustainable initiative by Sunway Hotels & Resorts.
Soapful is Sunway Hotels & Resorts’ sustainable initiative that repurposes used soap bars from its hotels. The repurposed soap bars are then distributed to selected beneficiaries for their personal use and also to be sold as part of their social enterprise programmes at charity sales, community markets and other social platforms. The project which was officially launched on 5 December 2018 is a collaboration with various project partners – Ecolab Sdn Bhd, Kinder Soaps Sdn Bhd and the Selangor Youth Community (SAY).
R.E.A.D. Programme
Sunway Group will soon kick-start the Sunway R.E.A.D (Reading Enhances Aspiration and Drive) programme where SJK(T) Klebang’s school library will be refurbished. Apart from the refurbishment, Sunway Group is also looking into equipping the library with the necessary books for education purposes.
Sunway Group launched its book donation campaign last month with Friends of Mankind. Books are collected at selected Sunway premises nationwide and subsequently sent to the school library.
ICT Literacy Aid Programme
As part of #sunwayforgood long term initiative to make education accessible to deserving students in the nation, it will embark on an ICT Literacy Aid programme in year 2020. This programme will focus on digital learning, where students are taught the basics of information technology and programming skills.
Deepavali Video
To spread the merriment of Deepavali celebration, Sunway Group has released a Deepavali video. In a multiracial country like Malaysia, every festival is celebrated by all Malaysians. This video features the importance of unity among Malaysians, and how we can all appreciate and embrace our cultural uniqueness and differences.
Stand a chance to win Deepavali packets by watching the video and answer the questions in this link.
Event: Launch of #SunwayForGood Deepavali Cheer
Venue: Lost World Hotel, Ipoh
Date: 13th Oct, 2019
Time: 12 noon
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