NGOS RAISE FUNDS FOR KIDS

SUBANG JAYA: A number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) teamed up for the first time for a charity event to raise funds for children's homes and refugees.

The event, which was initiated by a fairly new NGO, Small Changes, managed to raise about RM68,000.

Among the other NGOs involved in the programme were Carefugees, Young Muslim Projects, Bona Fide and KL Calling.

The one-day event which took place at Ruang in SS18 here, included a small bazaar selling mainly men's and women's clothing; a screening of short videos on Palestine; a colouring activity for children; a religious talk; and Iftar with some underprivileged, orphaned and refugee children.

Small Changes co-founder Aliaa Marizan said apart from raising funds for children charity homes and refugees, they also aimed to educate the public about refugees."This is so far our biggest event.

"We have been promoting the event in our Facebook page and on Instagram three weeks prior to the event date and started receiving cash donations from the public since then," said Aliaa.

"Those participating in our bazaar will also be contributing a percentage of their sales proceeds to this cause.

"Surprisingly, we have more donors from overseas including Australia, Germany, Britain and the United States and we have collected more than the targeted sum of RM50,000," she said.

Aliaa said RM6,000 was donated to Asrama Haluan Penyayang and Rumah Baitul Hidayah while the remaining RM62,000 was donated to Carefugees' Feed a Family Campaign which provides support for the refugee communities in Klang Valley.

One of the founding members of Carefugees, Amin Rahman, said under the Feed a Family Campaign, each registered refugee family will receive contribution of basic non-perishable food items worth about RM50 to RM200 that would be able to feed them for at least about a week.

"With the RM62,000, we probably will be able to feed over 300 refugees," said Amin.

Amin added that the campaign was introduced last year right after Carefugees was officially registered as an NGO.

Small Changes on the other hand was established in 2010 with the aim of providing a platform for the public to do charity to help the less fortunate. By Masriwanie Muhamading

Source: http://www.nst.com.my/node/15825