As part of our yearly commitment to our Penang community, we often do something around November for charity homes. Last year we were at House of Hope and this year, we wanted to go back again.
This video below was taken last year – just to give you an idea of the home looks like. Our WomenBizSENSE chairlady, Josephine, gives a short thank you speech.
House of Hope is a non-profit organization providing physical aid to the underprivileged families (mostly children and the elderly) living in the Rifle Range area in Ayer Itam, Penang, Malaysia.
House of Hope aims to break the cycle of poverty by meeting their critical needs and giving the people hope for a better future through feeding, clothing, educational programs, temporary financial relief and medical assistance.
This year, we managed to get McDonalds as a sponsor for 100 pieces of Chicken Muffins while WomenBizSENSE and supporters sponsored drinks, goodie bags, sweets, jellies and ice cream. (Thanks to Josephine, our chairperson who gave us the contact person for McDonalds, allowing us to get the sponsorship despite the short time frame.)
For our visit on Saturday (10 November), we started with everyone warming up with the famous Chicken Dance! Then it was onto some rather boisterous games that let everyone win prizes. The kids could not get enough of the games that Cecilia had planned. It ended with a lunch of McDonalds burger, soya bean jelly, a packet drink, vegetable pancake and ice cream.
We are also proud to announce that House of Hope also received RM80,000 in cash from Mr CK Loh of KM Sdn Bhd on Saturday (that was why Cheng See, one of the directors of the home, was not around). Lisa Lee, one of our friends who knows Mr CK Loh, had heartily recommended House of Hope as a charity worth supporting.
Other interesting developments came about as a result of our visit last Saturday (10 Nov) to House of Hope when our friends and supporters came to help out.
Ms Shari-Ann Ho (a dentist) said she is willing to organize free dental check ups for the children and the elderly of House of Hope.
Another good idea was brought up that Pauline’s friend (Pauline is our Social Responsibility Committee and organizer of this party at House of Hope), Miss Ewe, about bringing the House of Hope children to the free dental clinic at the Mahindrama Temple which is held twice a month.
Ms Jakie, another supporter who joined us on Saturday says she is willing to teach sewing and cooking to the poor families so that they are able to use these skills to generate extra income.
So you see, the connections and networking that we have can help others.
Thanks to all of you who made Saturday a truly meaningful event for the children of House of Hope!
To give you some perspective of how fortunate we all are, Krista managed to speak to Olivia, one of the directors. She discovered that many of these children often loiter because they are too afraid to go home to an empty flat (their parents work shifts and only return after 10pm). They are often hungry too. Olivia says she sometimes takes them out for an early dinner. While they would like to eat burgers, Olivia says that they only get burgers if it is their birthday or a special celebration. Their parents are too poor to bring them for fast food. Some kids get only one meal per day. So the children were really happy when they saw that they were getting burgers for lunch during our party for them.
Below is an email from our games master, Cecilia thanking all volunteers, helpers and friends for turning up on Saturday. She wrote a lovely email and it would remiss of us if we didn’t let you read it!
========================================
Hi wonderful ladies
Do you think the children had a fun time this morning?
I am sure they did!
Thanks to the commitment and esprit de corps of the members who were present as well as those who supported the event from behind the scene, i can say that the event was well executed. I was pleasantly amazed by the quality and quantity of volunteers present.
As games master, I am very happy to note that the volunteers (Kristine, Rachel’s friend, Jackie’s daughter, Rachel, Amrit’s mum, Pauline’s god sister ) who guided, coaxed, grouped and led the respective teams of children in the games did a great job.
Michael, Mety’s son, Esther, Noel and Mindy did their parts well to manage the individual games for the children to try out their throwing skills. Thank you, guys and gals, for a job well done!
My special thanks go to Rachel and Krista for helping in the explanation and demonstration of the games.
The volunteers (Mee Mee & children, Pauline’s friends, Jo & children, Mily, Amy Law) involved in the distribution of food did a good job in organizing the kitting process and the distribution process, to enable a smooth flow of burgers, drinks, cakes and jelly to the children and their parents. Thanks for the yummy service!
A big “thank you” goes to Mily for the well arrangement of prizes and transportation of drinks.
Of course, our Organizing Chairman, Pauline, deserves the Best Service Award for taking up the responsibility and getting the relevant resources to make the event a joyful affair for the children of the House of Hope. Thank you very much, Pauline!
Let’s all continue our caring and loving spirit….
See you all at the next Women BizSense event!
Regards
Cecilia
===================================
For more photos, visit our album in our Facebook page.