Touching nature, touching young hearts

Most children of poor single parents don’t get to experience life on a farm. Yes they are familiar with dogs, cats and may be a rabbit or two. However other farm animals like cows, goats, pigs etc are virtually unknown to them and when you add in exotic creatures like snakes, iguanas and colourful parrots –are those are real mysteries to them. It was precisely because of this that the Kiwanis of Bukit Bandaraya chose to make some 23 kids of poor single parents their guests for a visit to a farm in the city at Seri Kembangan. The kids had a whale of their time, watching, petting, feeding and learning about such exotic animals as a baby kangaroo, iguanas, deer, otters, turtles, ducks, turkeys, birds of all colours and breed and fishes too. Feeding the animals up close and personal with critters chomping on potato leaves offered by the young eager beavers was a joy to behold. That the kids learnt fast through this direct, hands on, most tactile of experience was obvious, that they had a whale of a time petting, feeding and just watching the funny antics of the critters was clear. For Parents Without Partners, this farm-jungle experience is an unbelievably good way of allowing young kids a chance to see something of real nature away from the petty confines of their poverty stricken neighbourhood. It was a breath of fresh air and we thank the Kiwanis of Bukit Bandaraya for sharing the beauty of nature to our younger generation.

Vital role of volunteers

Oftentimes volunteers for charity downplay the role they play to the organisations they contribute their time and their efforts. Recently PWP/JS was able to share with volunteers of CES Foodbank how vital their input has been single parents in dire need. Yes Food Bank’s groceries help us to reach out to poor single parents in a practical & realistic manner. It tells them that they are not alone, there are hearts out there who care enough to want to give them groceries month after month until they can get back on their feet financially. But Foodbank is more than just a “ handout” it is at times the one and only lifeline for single parents struggling to come to terms with their own, very personal tragic events. Single mother Emilda is one case. Abandoned by her hubby 3 years ago she struggled to care for her 3 kids – two boys and a girl. Emilda was recently injured in a motorbike accident and tragically lost her youngest son in the accident. Her pain and grief was indescribable, she could not do anything but her two other kids still needed to eat and Foodbank’s groceries was all that enabled her to grieve while still feeding her other two kids. Another single mum Nancy suffered a stroke for two years following a car accident. She had just recovered and was driving out to a client place to hand over some accounting work done in her home when she lost her lost her life in a car accident. This picture of us giving her her monthly groceries was the last and only family photo taken before her tragic death. Rishi’s mum Saraswathy, was abandoned by her drunken hubby leaving her to care for 11 yr old Rishi and his older sister. Uneducated and without skills, JS helped Saras to get a job in a soap factory and Foodbank assisted with groceries for 3 years. She contracted cancer and did not tell her kids or PWP till it was too late. She died late 2013 and her older daughter who finished her studies and working, cares for Rishi today. Friends of PWP/JS and volunteers of Foodbank, never underestimate the impact your input has played in the lives of these people who are recipients of your efforts. Every minute, every hour, every day spent on helping those in need, is and will always be a life changing experience for you and them. Volunteers are vital…always!

A deliciously inspirational donation

Some people use words to get their creative juices going, some rely on pictures or photos to do the same. Stephanie Lee however chooses a different manner to get her message across – she cooks and designs eye catching delicious dishes that captures the heart and the tummies of the viewers and the diners. Stephanie is an ordinary mum who wanted to make eating an interesting thing for her two daughters and in 2008, she hit on the idea of making her cooking adorably fun and colourful. She was so good, her cute, artsy dishes became an inspiration to many other mothers and she now attracts 650,000 instagram followers. Guardian knew that Samantha’s culinary art described as “good enough to eat” by the various foreign media is exactly the kind of “food that can do good,” so she was roped her to create a limited edition calendar for 2015 titled “Love Life, Be Inspired” which was given to customers who purchased its products priced RM100 and above. The calendars were a terrific hit and true to the statement that “food that can do good” Guardian with Samantha’s recommendation chose to donate RM10,000 to three charities including Parents Without Partners Bhd. Co-founder Sanice Kam who attended the cheque presentation ceremony shared that the amount will be utilised to set up “Change Station” in USJ1, a mini library in a shoplot for poor children and adults including single parents and their kids who want to enjoy reading story books, participate in story telling sessions and learn English. Change Station is located just next door to our second hand shop Jumble Station at F1-01-04 Angsana Flats, Subang Mewah, USJ1 and will be open to volunteers who want to assist us in bringing stories to life and teach them simple English to the poor folks in the low cost area. Together with Guardian and Samantha Lee, PWP aims to extend the theme of “Love Life, Be Inspired” through Change Station and this timely donation makes it a reality today.

Introducing JS & PWP's family of workers

Jumble Station and PWP finally has a great team of workers to help run both retail outlets smoothly and efficiently. In Jumble Station's Subang Mewah shop we have Normala working from 10am-6pm Mon to Sat and 3pm-9pm Sundays while Hafiz comes in from 6pm - 9pm from Monday to Saturday. Over on the Jaya One side we have our newest worker Shafika who comes in from 10a m-6pm Mondays till Saturday and Khiew from 6pm - 9.30pm daily. Also in the family are Hasrun Manaf our part time lorry driver, Suhaibah our part time emergency helper and Adrian Ong who helps manage the operations of both retail outlets and co-ordinates the pickup of donated items in and around the Klang Valley region. On the other side is Jayapratha our social co-ordinator whose responsibility is to interview, visit and send over the cash and groceries to the single parents who are in need. JS & PWP's family of workers are a happy, diligent and very teachable bunch and we try to take them out for a meal in a restaurant both to show our appreciation of their efforts and a way to help motivate them towards working more passionately for the poor single parents cause. Many newcomers have no idea at first of the important role that the Jaya One and Subang Jaya outlets play in the generation of funds for single parents but when the mission and vision is shared, their desire and willingness to work beyond the mere issue of earning a salary is much more pronounced. Once the vision of working to impact and transform lives is conveyed to them, the eagerness and spirited response to their work is clear and evident, they all spontaneously want to work as a team and they take immense joy in knowing that they are doing their part, however small or big, in making both JS and PWP a powerful force for the good of poor single parents. There was also an unforseen surprise - the long time employees and the newbies all got together to give co-founder Mary Anne an Oscar for "Best Boss" leaving her totally flabbergasted and very touched by this very simple and geniune gesture of thanks. For Mary Anne who for 25 years was an employee (a journalist no doubt) this was tribute indeed. Her sincere wish, conveyed to the workers that night during the Japanese dinner at Amcorp Mall, was that JS and PWP will continue to rise to newer and better levels of achievements and that as a team they will all become personally successful in their own right someday. If that and the fact that more poor single parents can move from a position of abject poverty and helplessness to one of positive growth and financial stability - then JS and PWP has fulfilled it aims marvellously. Only time will tell but what is important is knowing that no one person can generate success, no one person can hold possessively to the reins of management - JS and PWP has always been about team work and team work will power this NGO upwards.

Where there is a Will, there is a way to help....

Rockwills International Group has been around for ages signing up and making more Malaysians aware of the need to draw up a will and handle their estate planning in a more professional manner. Well today three top guns led by co-founder and group managing director Saw Leong Aun paid a visit to our charity shop at Jaya One (Level P1, The School) in Petaling Jaya for the express purpose of finding out how they can assist our poor single parents. First off, they were delighted to discover how PWP was able to recycle and up-cycle donated items and they could immediately envision how their large pool of Rockwills estate planners could just as easily chip in to help by sending their donated items to our newest outlet. They also shared the possibility of including us in their planned Family Day event in August where PWP will be given a booth to promote its activity. One other possibility is for the Rockwills Estate planners to help sponsor at least one school going child of poor single parents so that PWP’s Back to School programme for the December 2015 will be yet another happy and helpful event for the single parents and kids alike. PWP on its part is delighted to be one of the possible recipients of Rockwills largesse and we look forward to a fruitful and inspiring collaboration before the end of this year.

GONG XI FA CAI

HERE'S WISHING ALL OUR SINGLE PARENTS, THEIR FAMILIES, FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS A "VERY HAPPY YEAR OF THE GOAT" AND MAY THIS NEW CHINESE YEAR BLEAT IN MANY MANY HAPPINESS AND GREAT HEALTH TO ALL FROM JUMBLESTATION AND PARENTS WITHOUT PARTNERS.

Good workers needed

Running a charity shop is never easy. Workers are an integral part of any charity organization. Volunteers are fine but volunteers come and go at their own time and their own flexibility. Workers on the other hand are the bedrock of the success of any endeavor but good workers are truly hard to find. In the case of a charity shop, workers with zeal, dedication, passion and integrity are like true diamonds so so hard to find.

The fact that a charity shop does not have the luxury of paying top dollar for great and passionate workers make it doubly hard to find such human gems. Jumble Station and Parents Without Partners biggest headache is finding and keeping good workers and with the long hours involved in working in the shops from 10am-10pm daily the challenge is grueling indeed. Honesty is another trait that is vitally crucial in this charitable endeavor because one is dealing in cold hard cash on a daily basis and cash to a worker from an underprivileged background is temptation indeed. The other requirement of reliability is another much sought after characteristic much admired yet extremely hard to find in most workers of today. Nevertheless, there must be a gem of a worker or two out there somewhere willing to assist PWP to man its store at Jaya1 (The School) in shifts (10am-4pm and 4pm-9.30pm) daily. So if you know of anyone – a retired or newbie worker – do get them to call Mary Anne Tan -0162202958 immediately. You will earn our eternal gratitude if you can help us to unearth such worker gems to help our single parents cause. Thank you.