Year: 2020

200804_See-Hua-Daily-News

200529_the-sun

200526_the-star

20200503_sinchew

HEINEKEN Malaysia Berhad (HEINEKEN Malaysia) has been supporting its local communities and is committed to donating basic food items to 3,120 B40 community members to enable them to prepare 80,000 meals over 30 days, with the aim of helping vulnerable families cope with the loss of income during the Movement Control Order (MCO).

The community outreach programme started on on March 26 and will continue until April 30. This will provide support to vulnerable groups in the areas of Desa Mentari, Bestari Jaya and Hulu Langat, communities around the brewery and watershed area. The beneficiaries are made up of Malaysians of all ethnic groups who are most affected by the current situation particularly daily or minimum wage earners earning between RM600 to RM2,000 per month who have to support from three to 12 family members.

Roland Bala, managing director of HEINEKEN Malaysia said, “People are at the heart of our company. Besides looking after our employees’ wellbeing, we have been reaching out to communities in need around our brewery to support them. We understand the sudden transition that these families have had to go through during this unprecedented situation, so we want to ease their burden by providing basic food necessities.”

The first phase of HEINEKEN Malaysia’s relief efforts saw 120 families from the B40 communities around its Sungei Way Brewery and watershed area in Sungai Selangor, mainly Bestari Jaya and Hulu Langat, benefit from basic food items such as rice, cooking oil, eggs, biscuits, flour and hot drinks powder.

For the second phase, HEINEKEN Malaysia partnered with MyKasih Foundation, a charity organisation in charge of driving welfare distribution to underprivileged families and community leaders. Funds for the beneficiaries are channeled directly into their MyKad to be used at selected supermarkets. Through this arrangement, each beneficiary will get to purchase 10 categories of food items for the next month, which includes rice, infant formula, canned food such as sardines and tuna, eggs, cooking oil, and biscuits.

Arulmani Kaniappan, Joint Management Board Block 1 Desa Mentari community leader, added, “At Desa Mentari, many of us are severely impacted by the MCO as we live on a day-to-day basis. Our community is quite large, a lot with big families, so although we try to support each other as much as we can, it is really heartwarming to have HEINEKEN Malaysia step in and offer us so much. We are grateful for the help we have received as every bit counts.”

HEINEKEN Malaysia has provided aid to 725 families to date. The community aid programme is one of the initiatives that has been identified to address an urgent need amongst the B40 communities. The Company is in the process of identifying other programmes and opportunities to overcome the evolving and emerging challenges in relation to COVID-19.

MyKasih Foundation chairman and co-Founder, Tan Sri Dr Ngau Boon Keat said, “We applaud HEINEKEN Malaysia’s efforts in reaching out to the less fortunate during this time. We are happy to have enabled this outreach effort though the use of our unique cashless distribution system. By using this solution, there is no need for volunteers to pack and distribute food during the MCO. We would be delighted to assist any organisation that would like to emulate HEINEKEN Malaysia’s initiative in using the cashless MyKad platform to render assistance to the poor.”

PETALING JAYA: MyKasih Foundation raised RM3mil to feed 2,500 families, including 500 Orang Asli communities in Pahang, Kelantan, Perak and Selangor, during the movement control order (MCO) period.

The charity organisation said as it operates on a unique efficient delivery system, the swift mobilisation of donor funds to targeted beneficiaries was made possible due to the extensive network of its retail partners, which includes Giant, Mydin, The Store, Tesco, AEON, Econsave, TF Value Mart and Speedmart99.

“The effectiveness of the MyKasih food aid programme is also attributed to the cashless nature of its welfare distribution.

“The MyKasih food aid programme runs on a proprietary chip technology of the MyKad, which enables charity funds to be channelled in a secure, targetted and transparent manner, directly to rightful recipients via their MyKad accounts,” it said in a statement on Tuesday (April 7).

The foundation added that to prevent abuse of donor funds, it has a barcode-scanning process to ensure only approved items were purchased.

“Recipients are able to choose from 10 approved food product categories such as rice, noodles, cooking oil, eggs, bread, biscuit, seasonings, beverages, and canned food.

“This exercise restores dignity to the underprivileged by letting them choose the food items they need and to purchase them only when they need it.

“More importantly, this minimises food wastage and removes the health and safety risks towards social workers and volunteers, who would otherwise have to procure, pack and deliver food aid to the beneficiaries during this critical MCO period,” it said.

MyKasih said it has also offered the use of its cashless welfare distribution platform to organisations and NGOs that were supporting the needy with food aid.

“This is to circumvent the challenges and risks NGOs face in physically handling the logistics of food aid during these difficult times.

“We hope to do our part in flattening the Covid-19 curve by keeping social workers at home, while letting the system render assistance directly to those with urgent food needs,” it said.

The donors were MyKasih’s chairman Tan Sri Dr Ngau Boon Keat, as well as corporations such as Dialog Group Berhad, Linaco Foods Industries, CIMB Foundation, Japan Tobacco International Malaysia, Heineken Malaysia and many individual well-wishers.

KUALA LUMPUR (April 7): MyKasih Foundation, a private charity organisation, has raised RM3 million in food aid for the poor.

In a statement today, the foundation noted that since the Movement Control Order (MCO), 2,500 poor families have received food aid, including 500 Orang Asli households in Pahang, Kelantan, Perak and Selangor.

“The swift mobilisation of donor funds to targeted beneficiaries was made possible due to the [extensiveness] of retail partners MyKasih Foundation works with such as Giant, Mydin, The Store, Tesco, AEON, Econsave, TF Value Mart and Speedmart99, spread across more than 200 outlets nationwide,” it said. 

In addition, MyKasih has also offered the use of its cashless welfare distribution platform to organisations and NGOs which are supporting the needy with food aid to circumvent challenges and risks in handling the logistics of food aid during the MCO.

“The MyKasih food aid programme runs on proprietary chip technology of the MyKad which enables charity funds to be channeled in a secure, targeted and transparent manner, directly to rightful recipients via their MyKad accounts. 

“To prevent abuse of donor funds, this programme has a barcode-scanning process, which ensures that only approved items are purchased,” it added. 

MyKasih also said recipients are able to choose from ten approved food product categories that include rice, noodles, cooking oil, eggs, bread, biscuits, seasonings, beverages and canned food.

“This restores dignity to the underprivileged by letting them choose for themselves the food items they need and to purchase them only when they need,” it added.

The key donors of this programme include MyKasih’s chairman, Tan Sri Ngau Boon Keat, as well as corporations such as Dialog Group Bhd, Linaco Food Industries, CIMB Foundation, Japan Tobacco International (JTI) Malaysia, Heineken Malaysia, as well as many individual well-wishers. 

Currently, the foundation is supporting 14,000 underprivileged families and students with food aid and educational assistance worth RM12 million.

The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the plight of the poor struggling to put food on the table, made worse by the loss of jobs due to the Movement Control Order (MCO). It’s made even more dire because NGOs and other social-purpose organisations face challenges in delivering aid to the needy due to travel limitations and associated health risks.

Thus when the MCO was announced, MyKasih Foundation, a private charity organisation with a uniquely efficient delivery system, raised RM 3 million to assist the poor with food aid. Key donors include MyKasih’s Chairman, Tan Sri Dr Ngau Boon Keat, as well as corporations such as Dialog Group Berhad, Linaco Foods Industries, CIMB Foundation, Japan Tobacco International (JTI) Malaysia, Heineken Malaysia, as well as many individual well-wishers.

Since the MCO, 2,500 poor families have received food aid, out of which, 500 are the Orang Asli in Pahang, Kelantan, Perak and Selangor. The swift mobilisation of donor funds to targeted beneficiaries was made possible due to the extensive network of retail partners MyKasih Foundation works with such as Giant, Mydin, The Store, Tesco, AEON, Econsave, TF Value Mart, and Speedmart99, spread across more than 200 outlets nationwide.

The effectiveness of the MyKasih food aid programme is also attributed to the cashless nature of its welfare distribution. The MyKasih food aid programme runs on a proprietary chip technology of the MyKad which enables charity funds to be channelled in a secure, targeted and transparent manner, directly to rightful recipients via their MyKad accounts.

To prevent abuse of donor funds, the MyKasih food aid programme has a barcode-scanning process, which ensures that only approved items are purchased. Recipients are able to choose from ten approved food product categories, such as rice, noodles, cooking oil, eggs, bread, biscuit, seasonings, beverages, and canned food. This exercise restores dignity to the underprivileged by letting them choose for themselves the food items they need, and to purchase them only when they need it.

More importantly, this minimises food wastage and removes the health and safety risks towards social workers and volunteers, who would otherwise have to procure, pack and deliver food aid to the beneficiaries during these critical MCO period.

In addition to fund-raising as soon as the MCO took effect, MyKasih also offered the use of its cashless welfare distribution platform to organisations and NGOs who are supporting the needy with food aid. This is to circumvent the challenges and risks NGOs face in physically handling the logistics of food aid during these difficult times.

The foundation hopes to do its part in flattening the Covid-19 curve by keeping social workers at home, while letting the system render assistance directly to those with immediate food needs.

MyKasih Foundation was established in 2009 by the Executive Chairman of Dialog Group Berhad, Tan Sri Dr Ngau Boon Keat and his wife Puan Sri Jean Ngau, to reach out to poor communities in Malaysia. Since its inception, the foundation has disbursed RM 280 million worth of food aid to 300,000 low-income households nationwide with support from organisations such as Dialog Group, PETRONAS, HSBC Malaysia, Khazanah, JTI Malaysia, British American Tobacco (BAT) Malaysia, Chevron Malaysia, ConocoPhillips Malaysia, Halliburton, BHPetrol, Shell Malaysia, Mah Sing Foundation, Linaco Foods Industries, Ambank Group, CIMB Foundation and more than 50 others.

At present, the foundation is supporting 14,000 underprivileged families and students with food aid and educational assistance totalling RM 12 million. As appeals for aid continue to pour in, organisations or companies keen to support MyKasih’s MCO humanitarian effort may contact MyKasih at info@mykasih.com (www.mykasih.com). ALL DONATIONS ARE TAX EXEMPT.

About MyKasih Foundation
MyKasih Foundation is a charity organisation that aims to help underprivileged Malaysians through food aid and education. The uniqueness of the MyKasih program is in the technology that drives its welfare distribution. The MyKasih ‘Love My Neighbourhood’ food aid programme and the MyKasih ‘Love My School’ student bursary scheme run on an efficient cashless distribution system developed by DIV Services Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Dialog Group Berhad, which uses the chip technology of the Malaysian identity card, the MyKad, and MyKasih smartcard to disburse welfare aid to target beneficiaries. MyKasih relies entirely on donations from the public and corporate bodies, which are tax- exempted, to help fund the above welfare programs for the underprivileged. For more information, visit www.mykasih.com or email info@mykasih.com.

For more information, please contact:
Shafinaz Suhaimi
Senior Manager
MyKasih Foundation
Email: shafinaz.suhaimi@mykasih.com  
Tel: (+6012) 391 0123