SUNWAY CITY, 23 JANUARY – Ensuring no one is left behind is crucial in developing sustainable communities. The concept is meant to transform our society to an inclusive place, simply because we and our future generations need to live and progress in a better environment. It is also the pledge made by the United Nation and the core aspiration behind the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which is meant to build a socially inclusive world.
Doing our small part to make this nation a better place is Sunway Property, a Master Community Developer, who collaborated with 11 underprivileged organisations to create public awareness and create a platform in an effort to educate the public about the many gaps that exist in the communities around us. The Social Inclusion and Sustainability initiative, #SunwayClosesTheGap, is running from Jan 3 to Jan 26 at Sunway Velocity Mall, with an aim to raise awareness and needy items from the public, so that all participating homes could prepare for a better 2017.
Nicholas Mok, the person-in-charge from Rumah Victory that operates elderly homes, children homes, and drug rehabilitation centres, said that they received lesser donations over the past years due to the economy downturn and would sincerely appreciate assistance from Good Samaritans. “Besides physical needs, deep down in their (children and elderly) hearts, they actually feel lonely to belong to the ‘special group’ in this society and worry about people’s judgement every time when walking out from the centre,” he said.
Sarena Cheah, Managing Director, Property Development Division for Malaysia and Singapore, Sunway Berhad expressed, “Many a time, we are tied up with our daily commitments and forget to care about these communities around us. Through this Social Inclusion and Sustainability initiative, we hope everyone can take a moment to reflect on the gap in the lives of our fellow community members and consider extending our support to them in the many ways that we can.”
She explained that any small gesture could make a big difference in the lives of underprivileged groups. Such awareness raised from the campaign will seed a greater influence in the long run and hopefully, work to reducing the invisible gap between communities. The 11 beneficiary homes are; Yayasan Sunbeams Homes, Persatuan Rumah Kanak-kanak Ini Disayangi Selangor, Kenosis Home, Trinity Community Children Home, Ray of Hope Children’s Home, Chin Women Organisation, Shepherd’s Centre Foundation, Pertubuhan Kebajikan Ehsan Ash-Shakur, Rumah Victory Elderly Home, Persatuan Kebajikan Teratak Shifa and Rainbow Home.
The public can donate school uniforms, food, multivitamins, toiletries items and other items (new or used and in good condition) by bringing it to the booth at Sunway Velocity before Jan 26. Some of the homes also wish to have volunteers to provide constant guidance to the children and regularly pay a visit to let them know they are not neglected in this city.
“Sunway Property has been driving several sustainable initiatives for the betterment of education, healthcare, and communities. We will continue to carry out our ongoing responsibility as a Master Community Developer, and focus on building a living community for all,” Sarena added.
For more event details, kindly refer to Sunway Property Facebook www.facebook.com/SunwayProperty/ or website www.sunwayproperty.com/happenings/events.
*Image Caption: Sarena Cheah, Managing Director, Property Development Division for Malaysia and Singapore, Sunway Berhad and Sunway staff handover first batch of items to beneficiary homes over a meet and greet session last weekend.