Sporty trip of a lifetime for JS/PWP’s poor kids

Cars, bikes and planes are every child’s idea of great toys but the pleasure is tripled when the toys are really big men..er.. rich men’s toys, so to get a chance to ride in one of these vehicles is always an opportunity not to be missed.

Well Parents Without Partners Bhd (PWP) was asked to send some children of single parents and kids from disadvantaged families to participate in the Royal Selangor Club's (RSC) annual motorsports carnival and charity drive held recently.

PWP co-founder Sanice Kam with some 18 children in tow turned up at the Dataran Merdeka where they were greeted by more than 80 vintage, classic, super fast cars and superbikes put on display specially for this occasion. Around 15 of them were also the more ultra-modern, fast cars, such as the Lamborghini and the Ferrari as well as around 15 Harley-Davidson motorcycles for the youngsters to gape in awe and wonder. In the vintage and classic cars category includes a 1965 MG GT and a Citroen 2CV.
According to the RSC Motor Sports Section’s organising chairman, Mr R. Shanmugam, this is the RSC’s 5th time organising such an event for the under privileged kids as part of the club’s contribution to society, only this time, they did it with the strong support of the Blue Jacket Club members as well.

The kids on their part had a whale of a time and their thrill of a life time had to have been the long leisurely drive from the innermost city of KL out to the fascinating Sungai Besi RMAF Musuem where aerial displays of vintage planes and pre-war aeroplanes as well as some sleek looking helicopters made it a truly fun outing for all.

Topping off the trip was a cheque for RM2,000 given to PWP by the RSC aimed at helping the charitable organisation with its efforts to assist poor single parents and their kids in the coming months. To the RSC Motor Sports Section and the Blue Jackets Club, a very big “Thank You” for your kindness and generosity to the needy single parents under PWP’s care and concern.

financial tips for single parents

Parents have the hardest job in the world, and those who do it alone truly deserve a medal. An added challenge of single parenting is handling the finances. Living on only one income makes budgeting, and saving for your little ones' future even more difficult. The good news is that you're not alone and financial freedom is closer than you think.

Here are some financial tips for single parents.

1.Talk to your kids about money
If your children are old enough to understand the value of money, then it may be in your best interest to talk to them about it. Airing out the family's financial situation can give kids a better idea of where money comes from and where it goes. Opening this line of communication between you and your kids may foster a better understanding of spending, budgeting, and saving so that they can contribute to the family nest one day.
2.Track your spending
As a single parent, you have to be even more cautious of your spending and how it impacts your family. Single parents are advised to track their spending by keeping a written or digital ledger of their purchases. Once you know how much you're spending and where it's going, you can better budget your money and start investing wisely.
3.Save on child care
Child care is expensive, and some single parents simply don't want the added costs. If you're not going to get child care, then you're going to have to make some adjustments to make it work. First, ask family and friends if they can watch your children while you're at work. If this doesn't work, then you may need to change your work schedule, or split the duties with a trusted child care provider to cut the costs in half.
4.Manage and stay out of debt
The last thing you need to compound your financial troubles is getting into debt. Living on one income is most certainly tough, but single parents have to make wise financial decisions to avoid falling into debt. If you're already in debt, take care of this problem right away. This may mean taking on another job to pay off your current debt, or resorting to debt consolidation or debt settlement.

5.Save for retirement
Don't forget about yourself! Single parents should continue to save for retirement so they have enough money to live on when they stop working. Even if you're a young parent, it's never too early to start setting money aside for retirement and planning for your future. Parents who live on a limited income are advised to put more money into retirement and emergency funds than in college savings because their children will likely qualify for financial aid and scholarships. There's no such thing for retirees.
6.Save for your kids' college education
Saving for college is difficult for anyone, especially if you're a single parent. You may not be able to save enough to pay for their entire schooling, but every little bit counts. The earlier you can start setting money aside for college, the more you'll be able to help them out. Depending on your family income, your children may qualify for financial aid, scholarships, and work study programs that make college much more attainable.
7.Find free things to do
There are plenty of fun activities to do with your children that don't cost a sen. Single parents should partake in free activities like going to the park, attending museums during free hours, camping out in the backyard, and playing board games at home. Not only are these activities cost-effective, but they are fun for the whole family.
8.Live within your means
Although many people do not live within their means, it is crucial for single parents to do so. Living within your means is very doable, but it certainly requires a great deal of discipline. If you can no longer afford your car payments or your mortgage is becoming a major financial burden, then it may be time to downgrade to a less expensive car or move into a more affordable apartment. Just as you teach your children the difference between needs and wants, you have to explore the same question when it comes to living within your means.
9.Create an emergency fund
Parents know that accidents happen, but not everyone is prepared for the costs that come from these unexpected events. One of the best ways to protect your family from being completely wiped out in an emergency is to create an emergency fund. Although this amount varies from person to person, single parents should try to save as much as they possible can because they are supporting themselves and their children. When creating your emergency fund, consider different emergency scenarios and how much they would cost and give some thought to your job security. But most importantly, don't touch that emergency fund unless it's a real emergency.

The above information is sourced from: http://www.onlinedegree.net/10-financial-tips-for-single-parents

Sampling the sumptuousness of the Summit Hotel

Hotels are nothing new to most of us adults, after all we’ve visited many and stayed in a number of them too but for the marginalised groups, meaning the poorer folks, hotels remain a mystery.

Summit Hotel at Subang Jaya realised this possibility and chose to open its doors to some children of poor single parents and the under privileged groups recently to celebrate the Festival of Lights better known as Deepavali. Two organisations, Rumah Kids and Parents Without Partners (PWP) Bhd were invited to have their youngsters come over for a afternoon outing and high tea.

PWP responded by sending over 10 year old Karthik, sisters Fa’in and Fazlin, 10 and 9 years old respectively, Teo Hui Min, 7 and her mother Yeong Fong Pheng who is a deaf mute while Rumah Kids sent around 10 teenagers.

First thing that got PWP kids really excited was the plunge into the swimming pool which was kept exclusively open for their use. Group General Manager of Summit Hotels and Resorts Mr Lam Hin Choon himself personally welcomed the youngsters to the hotel and took time to take photos with the kids at the hotel’s pool side.
After much splashings and friendly dunkings, the youngsters clamoured to have a look at one of the hotel rooms because almost all of PWP’s kids hade never seen a hotel room before.

Karthik when asked which part of the room he liked best said he loved the bathroom because it had a “kolam” i.e. a bath tub which meant he could soak in and swim for as long as he wanted if ever he got to stay in the hotel room. The younger kids were more fascinated by the bedside controls for the TV set which happened to feature a cartoon show such that the kids were reluctant to have the TV switched off.

The beautifully laid out buffet meal which comprised the high tea for the kids were an awesome treat for them and many didn’t know exactly where to start in terms of piling up their plates but eventually they settled for a plateful of their choice food and going again for other choices. Dessert was another dilemmas they pondered over the cakes, fruits or ice-cream choices but all food went out of their minds when a magician magically turned up with many tricks up his sleeve.

All of PWP kids were mesmerised and astounded with the ease with which the magician made his cards appear and disappear, the drinks vanish without a trace or the fork to bend with seemingly effortless ease. One kid who aimed to be a pilot immediately announced he’s rather be a magician but was persuaded that he should pursue his pilot dream and master magic as a hobby! The special day was topped off by a group photo for memory's sake and Mr Lam’s generosity in giving Deepavali ang pow packets to each child just prior to waving the happy and contented kids off for home in the hotel’s very own van. You can bet PWP kids will be more than happy to trek back to the Summit Hotel should the staff send another invitation!

Taylors Uni volunteers get a feel for JS work

Volunteers can play an important role in any charity initiative and JS welcomes volunteers seeing that we have so few thus far. Of course being relatively new would account for the fact that not many organisations, colleges or universities would have heard of JS despite us being around for some 4 years now.

So it was a pleasant surprise when six enthusiastic youths from Taylor’s University opted to assist Parents Without Partners with its reaching out efforts to poor single parents while doing their bit for their moral education course.

Nichole who happens to be my ex-colleague from the Edge Ooi’s daughter brought along five of her uni mates and together we spent two days of going around to see what a day in the life of a JS volunteer was like.

First off we introduced them to JS activities from sorting to collection of donated items, donating groceries to deserving poor single parents, dragging unwanted items to the recycle centres, visiting the homework centre at Brilliant Light which was funded by The Edge’s Rat Race event last year and taking the youngsters there through a simple photography course for the day.

Armed with a small digital camera each, the volunteers took between 2 to 3 kids in hand and taught them the rudiments of taking photos of still life in the form of stuffed toys which had been prepared beforehand. The children were excited to learn a new skill and learnt via comparison how to be a better photographer.

On Sunday, the six volunteers turned up early at 9am at the Amcorp Mall to assist in the sale of collectibles and decorative items which is aimed at raising additional funds for JS works. They learnt that it takes skills to be a good sales promoter, that there is value in even the most mundane of items. At the end of the two day volunteering events, the youths have gained a greater appreciation of what it entails to successfully run a charitable organisation. Hopefully it will have inspired them to want to assist the poor in a more practical and heartfelt manner than ever before!

Suffering a loss

Many single parents are scarred by the loss of their spouse, whether through death or abandonment. For some, the psychological damage runs very deep, extends for years and appears seemingly irreversible while others are hurt for a while and then bounce off the experience to emerge stronger.

Some of us, never having experienced such a severe loss, find that it’s a little hard to fully comprehend the pain and anguish they are going through and we can’t begin to understand their fragile psyche until we literally start to “walk in their shoes”.

Yours truly got a little glimpse of the dark void of “suffering a loss” that many single parents go through when four young robbers pounced on me, put a knife to my neck and took away my waist pouch in 10mins flat just before Hari Raya!

The pouch held my personal items, JS and my cash, a digital camera and a bunch of keys, admittedly nothing much but the nuisance and inconvenience of having to replace the lost items has now made me more paranoid about the issue of safety. Now I tend to be more conscious of locking my car doors as soon as I get into the car, I’ll look around carefully first before getting out of the car and arm myself with a bat if I have to stand outside a house for any length of time.

The sense of outrage still burns within me, the anger at losing personal items to ruthless, worthless robbers still simmers, the fact that I should be grateful no physical harm came to me is often times more overlooked than remembered as I continually nurse a grudge against the thieving louts. Like the scarred single parents JS is helping, I couldn’t let go of the painful past!

Then something happened to renew my faith in humankind. A JS supporter learnt of what had happened and went out to buy JS a brand new digital camera to replace the one that was lost – the gesture was so unexpected, so spontaneous it considerably erased the pain and brought home one single, penetrative truth – bad things happen but we don’t have to be dragged down by it, we don't have to stay in its destructive grip, we need to move on and continue to do what we do best - make this world a better place for all.

Yes and how much more lovelier it can and will be, if we actively seek and choose to see only the beautiful side of life rather then to wallow in pain and perpetually nurse a lifetime of anguished “loss”...

Yours truly has now started using the digital camera to do just that – capture the joys of life and loves so that scarred single parents can also get out from the dark void that has held them captive for so long.

JS first photo – a pix of one of our single mother cats – all pregnant cats become single mums right? – newborn kitties – 3 of them, so small, so marvellously cute - a symbol of a fresh new look, a fresh new beginning awesome!

Filling up an empty flat

Some people have wondered what does Jumble Station do with the items that people donate? First off, we give them to single parents in need of them and here’s one classic example.

Single parent Saras has five kids – four girls and a boy. The two older girls are teenagers 16 and 14 while the other girl is 10 and the boy is 8years old. The baby of the lot is Sarah Angeline who is only 3months old, the result of this single mother’s hope for a second, better relationship but the worthless father of this baby scooted off as soon as she was conceived!

Saras and her three girls (the 10 year old and the boy were sent to live in a home) had been living in Puchong with her sister but her sister tired of them and moved out to an undisclosed location forcing them to move to a cheap flat in Angsana where Jumble Station is located.

The flat on the 10th floor is bare except for a dirty looking comforter that doubles as a mattress for all of them at night, a table for dining and a table to hold their meager amount of clothes. Jumble Station promptly sent them a newly serviced fridge, a washing machine, a single bed and mattress, a TV and stand fan, a personal computer complete with monitor, keyboard, PC table, dining chairs, plates, cups, glasses, cutlery, rice cooker, kettle, blender, toys and baby items including clothes for baby Sarah Angeline.

Saras who has been struggling on her RM800 salary to pay for rent, food and clothes for her children ever since her hubby abandoned the family could not believe that she could get these household items for free when she moved into the flat on August 20th.

JS doesn’t just equip the flat, we also looked into the issue of ensuring the youngsters are gainfully involved in activities beneficial to the family and for that we’ve connected the youngsters (they start in their new school only in January next year) with a businessman who is willing to pay them RM25 a day for volunteering to paste labels on his products. With this income coming in, at least the family should be a little more comfortable until Saras can get a better paying job or her boss raises her salary to enable her to support her growing family.

This family still need other household items such as a sofa set etc, cupboards, DVD player etc but we will send these to them as soon as JS receives them from the donors.


In the meantime, JS also needs more clothes, decorative items (ceramics, gifts, paintings etc) collectibles (stamps, badges, comics, watches, coca cola etc), cameras (film and digital) toys, costume jewellery, music CDs, DVDs etc to fill its table for its weekend flea market sales at Amcorp Mall in order to raise more funds for our work with poor single parents so if you know of anyone with stuff to let go call or SMS 016-2202958 Anne for collection.

CSR with a difference!

Many organizations want to do something for charity and that's good for Parents Without Partners (PWP) and Jumble Station but what we always strive for, is to do things a little differently from the norm. So when newcomer airline Oman Air first came to us saying they wanted to offer free trips for the poor single parents kids to Oman, we decided we’d do something far more radical then just have them all take the free trip.

We kicked off the programme by organizing an essay and art competition specially for our single parents kids and we had them in various locations, sitting in one single mum’s flat to do the essay or the art competition. Typically most of the participants aged from 11years to 20years, chose to draw rather than write and the winners turned out to be four candidates – Robin, Sujatha, Jilianna and Mary Anne Letricia. Since only 3 winners from each race could be picked, we had to decide between Sujatha and Letricia but the decision was made when Letricia failed to turn up for the face to face interview with Oman Air’s manager for KL, Kathleen Leong.

On June 6-10th, the three winners accompanied by Integrity PR’s Jennifer Nelson and her assistant Tengku Shireen and Mary Anne as vice president of PWP flew off to Oman where a very warm hospitality awaited us. Once there, PWP began to teach the youngsters how to take photographs of Oman scenery and activities the way a photo journalist would. Armed with small Lumix digital cameras donated by JS supporters, the three newbie photographers went about clicking and recording their experiences and every night reviewing their efforts.

Step by step they were taught the rudiments of what makes a good picture and urged to look at things from the perspective of a photo journalist because aside from taking photos, the youths were also encouraged to interview their tour guides and host Ghazan so that each photo would have a story to tell.

Of course it wasn’t an easy transition to go from gawking tourist to avid photo journalists but the youths went through the process pretty well and when they returned, they were urged to work on their travel journal, slide presentation as well as a travel essay. On July 28, the trio presented their efforts to the local press, they stood up before a panel of four to five press folks and wowed them over with their interesting photos. For the three 1Malaysia youths, it was their first time with the media and they handled them pretty well too. PWP asked the media people for their feedback on the youths’ efforts and the response was that the kids obviously enjoyed the experience, they were still so vibrantly enthusiastic about the experience and they were remarkably talented! For PWP, it was a satisfying experiment in carrying out the adage that “it is better to teach the children to fish than to give them just fish to eat!”.

What have we imparted to the kids? We’ve taught them new skills – writing and photography so that should they want to, they can develop such skills further to help improve their employable skills someday. They have also learnt to expand their horizons, having seen that there is a whole new world out there for themselves and that all that stands between them and success is the ability to go beyond their current impoverished state. For the single parents, it was also an eye opening period because now they saw first hand, how talented their kids are and all that’s needed is to give them the encouragement they need to advance further in life. This is truly CSR with a real and vital difference!