Lee Hwa Beng ADUN Subang Jaya learns about JS

Datuk Lee Hwa Beng the ADUN for Subang Jaya is one surprised YB when he discovered that Jumble Station is located almost smack on his doorstep - well just doors away from his Barisan Nasional centre at USJ1 . He found out about this during a slide show presentation about JS while hosting a dinner for the residents of Goodyear Court 10 on Friday night. He was of course delighted to learn that JS is impacting the lives of the poorer folks at Angsana Flats while also meeting the most dire needs of Single Parents and likens JS to the SIB shops in MidValley, except that JS chooses to be located in low cost areas rather than in the major shopping centres, so in that sense we're complementing them by reaching out to the poor in the poorer locations.

Great news too, JS shared about its proposal to launch a Trade-Up4JS game on Feb 14 where we plan to trade a toy train for something better until JS ends up with the van it needs, Datuk Lee sportingly said he's willing to help JS officially launch the game and what's more he's going to donate RM2,500 to help the cause of Single Mums... so there we have it... Valentine's Day at 12 noon, Datuk Lee will officially kick off the game and after that, it's anybody's guess as to how long or how far it will take before JS gets the van it needs.

Audacious of us to do this? Yup but hey we've got nothing to lose and besides its bound to be fun after all, JS is one social entrepreneur that believes in doing good in a fun and challenging way...so join us and post your best offer from Feb 14 onwards that way Trade-UP4JS becomes a fascinating online charitable initiative...Pix above is Datuk Lee giving a speech to Court 10 residents and another of him handing over some of the donated items from the residents to JS co-founder and Single Mother coordinator Lim Lian See... cheers Antz

Donation drive at Goodyear Court 10 Subang Jaya

Hey tonite at 7pm we're launching our two day (tonite and tomorrow) donation drive for JS.. getting residents in Court 10 where I stay to give items they have no use for and help make Single Parents lives a little better. Lee Hwa Beng the Subang Jaya ADUN is hosting a dinner so we thought we'd thought we'd combine a free makan with a drive to donate items for JS...so if you have stuff do come tonight and eat for free thanks to sponsorship by the ADUN, the MS Elevator guy and our Subang Perdana Management ...here's the flyer that says it all...

more pix of single mums that JS helped

This is an unusual case, the husband has been suffering from a kidney ailment for the last 14 years and has been on socso disability since. To all intents and purposes, the wife has been singlehandedly financially caring for the children's needs and its tough on her meagre salary

Nurain is an American Muslim abandoned by her Malaysian husband following an accident two years ago.

Lian See hands over cash to another single mum whose budget was stretched as a result of having to buy new shoes, uniforms, school exercise books and bus fares for her children's new school term

These are just some of the more recent single mums that JS has been able to assist, the others include:

Victoria Santaselvam and her 4 kids, 2-12 years old from Jalan Ipoh ,

Panjali Muniandi and her 5 kids 3years to 16 years from Sentul,

Rena Raju with 3 kids of her own and one from her dead sister, 2years to 6 years from Lembah Subang

Eshwari and her four children from Desa Mentari, Sunway

photos of single mums that JS has helped

Handing over cash to help with the purchase of school things for the new school term for the single mothers at Desa Mentari... more pix to come

Mandy & Tim & single mum Lily

more pix of past events

Here's some pix of the Christmas party Legend threw for Shelter Home and El Shaddai where it managed to raise RM9,988 for each of the charitable organisation... ours we're hoping will be used as a downpayment for a van but Shelter insists that the van be kept in their premises in PJ which renders it useless for JS use since JS is in Subang and running back and forth to PJ to use the van doesn't make sense and a sheer waste of time especially if the collection of items for JS takes place in Subang, Shah Alam, Puchong, Kajang, Klag etc... you get the drift... so the point is we need to launch a drive to get our very own van....anyway, here are the pix for the record of Lian See accepting the cheque for Shelter Home in her capacity as Single Mothers Network co-ordinator in December 2007.

A helping Hand

Today, I was on hand to capture the moment when Jumble Station was able to extend or lend a helping hand to one single mother who lives within the vicinity of Jumble Station itself. Siti a mother of an 8 year old boy and a 6 year old daughter had just a week ago moved into a flat at Angsana Flats because she says "its the cheapest place I could find to rent." She has been a single mum for six years ever since she was pregnant with her daughter Fikah and was abandoned by her husband. "My ex-husband never even set eyes on Fikah and never bothered to see or ask about her!" Siti who works as a sales clerk says she was forced to send her son to live with her ex and his new wife in Sabah because "I cannot afford to care for two children on my little salary. Everyday I cry thinking about my son because I do not know whether he is being treated well or not by his father and his new wife." Siti now lives in an empty flat, she only has a mattress, a TV and some kitchen utensils, nothing else.

JS was able to give her a single mattress for her daughter (so she doesn't have to squeeze with her little girl on one mattress) and we're now looking for furniture to turn her flat into a home for free of course. Today, we were able to bring some measure of joy in her life when we handed over a bamboo shaped coin box filled with coins that had been donated by an Ivy Chew. We don't really know how much is in it but its a start for this mother and she is truly touched to know that there are kind folks out there like Ivy who are willing to lend a hand when help is needed, albeit on a more discreet way. For now, Siti knows that JS is here to help her and its only a matter of time before we'll get her the things she needs and hopefully someday soon, she can be reunited with her beloved son...

Check the pictures out.

We need a van....

Its been a hectic four months since Jumble Station was established and already one thing is clear - we desperately need a van of our own. Well actually we need a 1 ton lorry but that's too expensive and none of us have a lorry permit nor are we lorry drivers but a van, now that's possible.

Why you may ask does JS need a van? For one thing, it will be very useful for two reasons - to collect big ticket items like a fridge, a washing machine, furniture etc from homes and offices and then to have these delivered directly to the homes of the Single Parents in need or to JS itself.

Secondly, we need a van to transport the Single Parents to any events or networking activities that is being organised for them since many of them live in out of the way (boondocks) places and can't afford to take a taxi and where buses ply infrequently or not at all.

Currently, we've been using the services of our own car (mine's a Kelisa slightly bigger than Mr Bean's car!) and Lian See has a slightly bigger Myvvy, both of which can't fit a sofa let alone a bed! So we've been dependent on Julie a single mother from Klang who drives her company van but hers is available only on the weekends and now that she's had an accident, it's been out of action since Jan 1.

Now we've found another van driver to replace Julie but Azahar too can only do it during his free time which makes it tough whenever someone calls and says " can you take the item by today otherwise I'll give it away to the lorry driver that is delivering my new sofa, or fridge or washing machine..) you get the drift...

So getting a van of our own is a priority now the Legend Hotel set the ball rolling for us by collecting RM9,988 in its Christmas 2007 Charity drive. There is only one snag, the cheque is made out to Shleter Home and they want the van to be kept in one of their homes in PJ which really defeats the purpose because JS is in Subang Jaya and we need to have ready access to it should the need arise.

So like it or not, JS must embark on its own fund raising exercise in order to get us the van we need to get the items we need so we at JS will have to start putting our thinking caps on and soon too!

(Single) Mum’s the word 2

Sabariah Hosni nee Irene (with cap) is a single mother of three children – two boys, one 12 and another 10 as well as a girl aged 8. Her husband passed away when the youngest girl was only 1 year old and Sabariah has been raising the three children on her own all these while.

She relies on her skill as a hairdresser to make ends meet but where her shop is located, just one door away from Jumble Station itself, means that she is never sure when or how much she can earn in a month because the customers are all from the poorer sections of society.

Recalling how tough it is to be a single mother Irene says that when she first decided to rent a shoplot there, hers was the only shop in that exact location and customers were few and far between. No buses ran through the new area and she had to walk her kids to school each day and back. Business has since picked up but even then, there were many times when customers would come into the shop, have their hair cut and then inform her that they ‘forgot’ to bring their cash! This makes it really tough for her to meet her RM800 rental at times, causing her to sometimes be late in her rental payments.

Still this plucky single mum has managed to make a life for herself and her kids and just last month she managed to save just enough to get her very own place at Jati Flats across the road from the low cost Angsana Flats. Her rationale for buying the flat? “I didn’t want to pay someone else’s housing loan by renting for the rest of my life so I saved as much as I could to ensure we have our own place where no one can kick us out if they want to,”she says.

Well, more recently Jumble Station was able to assist Irene in a practical manner – NST journalist Charles and his wife Lisa from Bangsar wanted to give away their 8-month old sofa set and has asked whether JS wanted it. We sure did! We brought Irene over to meet Lisa and collect the sofa set (one two seater, one three seater and two single seaters) for her new flat. See accompanying pix.

Much later too, Irene was also able to get a dining table and chairs, a bed, two cupboards and dressing table from another journalist Diana Chin without having to pay a sen for them. Both the donors and Irene were happy with how this has worked out and we at JS are delighted to be able to bring some measure of happiness to both parties – the giver of the items is happy to know the goods given is put to good use by someone who really needs it and can't afford it while the single mum is blessed with the very things she needs, at a time when she needs it most!

Here's how we at JS are fulfilling our promise - that Single Mums in need, get the products in JS for free first before it gets sold to the poor in the shop itself. Know of any single mum in need, point us in their direction.