Friends with hearts of gold help out a destitute family
By LEE YEN MUNyenmun@thestar.com.my
PETALING JAYA: They don’t fight crime and there is no Charlie or Bosley in their lives but these three women are certainly angels in their own right.
Drawn by the plight of a family living in a crowded low-cost flat, Cecilia Wong, Tang Say Foon and Chan Chui Nam pooled their resources and jumped in to help.
On Saturday, armed with bags of essential foodstuff, clothes and stationery, they climbed to the fifth floor of the Desa Mentari flats here where the family of 21 was living.
After reading about the household in The Star on July 10, Wong felt compelled to help in some way.
Some of the children looking at the gifts given to them at their home by the three good friends Tang (left), Chan (in yellow) and Cecilia (second from right) yesterday.
The family consists of seven adults with four of them gainfully employed.
The monthly income of the family fluctuates due to the nature of their jobs working at a car wash, part-time lorry attendant, cleaning and part-time labourer.
There are also 14 children living in the small unit, ages ranging from a newborn to a 13-year-old.
At night, 10 of them sleep in the master bedroom and the rest share the living room space, using mattresses or clothes as bedding.
“When I read the article, I felt so sorry for the children who appeared to be helpless,” said Wong.
The business development manager, who is a volunteer at the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, rallied her former schoolmates to help via Facebook.
Her two friends are also socially conscious – Tang enjoys helping at homes for the elderly while Chan combines her passion for running with charity by participating in fund-raising runs.
Last Monday, an officer from the Labour Department visited the family together with The Star to assess the employability of the adults.
“Our goal is to help them secure a stable job, so that they can generate a steady income on their own,” said department assistant director Kennedy Kumar H.M.
This is what I call unconditional generosity among Malaysian. We will in the shortest time, too will join hand to help the needy and less fortunate peoples.
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