wonderings of kakijalan: 09.2008

Since the middle of this year, I've been involved in the organisation's volunteer movement. I'm the head of staff mobilisation a.k.a. project head. Responsible to make sure that charity activities are taking place and persuading people to get involved. Am very happy to be involved in it... makes me feel so much better that I'm contributing back to society, one way or another.

Not long before puasa NSY mentioned to me "should organise something for Ramadan to tolong orang susah". I sent email and made an announcement seeking for people who would like to be involved in the project. Masa tu, no idea yet who to give to, what to give etc etc. Just wanted to get a few people gathered together first.

The response I got from the email was very encouraging. Bertubi-tubi orang reply kata that they want to get involved. Good signs :)

So I initiated a virtual brainstorm on what to do, what to give etc. Then I had to leave for the UK. But not before assigning some tasks to several people to cari orang yang memerlukan bantuan. Sought the assistance of Momz to get some names from BersamaMu.

Sangat bagus and efficient that team of 4 ladies. They found a few homes that are in desperate need of aid. We weren't sure whether we can raise enough to help all, and settled with two orphanages.

At the same time, another team, under the Children cause, was working on a similar yet different charity drive. Theirs was focused to raise funds to give the kids what they want for Raya. That team was also very efficient and creative. They visited the home, took photos and videos of the kids and their home yang serba kekurangan.

The two teams got together when we planned the appeal announcement, strategise how to raise funds. The target was quite big... RM7k for Ramadan RM Rally and RM17k for Raya Wishlist. My first thoughts... dapat ke nak raise banyak tu? Takpelah... kalau tak dapat raise semua pun, half of it pun dah bagus sangat dah. With only 2 weeks available to us, we had to act fast.

We worked on the advertisement, pushed Chee Yoong to work over the weekend to make sure that it gets posted on the internal website by Monday, assigned people who will collect money etc. Also spread the word via our own networks.

And the response?
OUTSTANDING!!!

I knew that ppl from the organisation are a generous lot, but I didn't expect them to be this generous. Several ppl donated 4 digit amounts, sponsored washing machines, 8 sony mp3s, remote control cars, bicycles dan macam2 lagi. Big ticket items! But let's not forget those who give what they can... no matter how small the amount, bila campur2 jadi banyak.

Sangat banyak!

More than RM25k banyak!! It's unbelievable!!!

I really tak sangka that it would be this successful. Both teams have collected more than what they initially targeted for (and remember, I initially thought that the target was too high to start with... and had even made recommendations to the committee to chip in from the fund that we have).

Boy... was I wrong.

And the thing that made me even more pleased is that semua orang tak kira bangsa dan agama contributed towards the success of this charity drive. My head for collection is Indian. I have team members who are Chinese, Indian along side the Malays of course... all put in their best effort to help the kids. When I saw the list of donors, I noted that some of the big contributors are non-muslims. Warms my heart to see that bangsa Malaysia is alive and kicking in the organisation!

This Thursday and Sunday, the teams will be visiting the homes to give them the things and money that were donated. I am sure that they would be very happy this coming Raya. The Raya Wishlist team had visited them last Wednesday to take the kids out to beli baju raya (someone actually sponsored RM100 per kid... there are 16 kids in that home) and delivered bicycles and some other items as well. Bak kata Ameer "the kids tu bila dapat basikal, take turns riding and had the biggest smiles... macam orang dpt awek baru".

The joy that all this brings... the knowledge that what we do is making others have a better life... is so rewarding. Much much more than receiving your paycheck at the end of the month.

I'm so thrilled to be involved in this... and I want to do more!
It's addictive!!