Hope Place comes to aid of fire victims
KUCHING: Hope Place Kuching ( Hope Place) founder Kelvin Wan and his staff Tiong Yong Yieng yesterday handed over goods to the victims of a fire which burnt down two houses on June 1 after receiving a call for help.
The donated items included rice, cooking oil, sugar, salt, Milo, biscuits, noodles, second hand clothes, water, towels, cloth wardrobes and mattresses.
The fire affected the family of Hipli Othman (six people) and the family of Jarni Ossen (four people), leaving a total of 10 homeless.
All the victims are putting up temporarily at their relatives’ houses.
Othman’s daughter shed tears as she told Wan that she had been staying at the house that burned down since she was born and that she had lost the only home she had known with Hari Raya Aidilfitri just around the corner.
Hope Place is a non-governmental organisation ( NGO) whose volunteers visit poor and less fortunate families to contribute some essential food items like rice, cooking oil, sugar, salt, biscuits, and noodles.
Many of these families or individuals barely earn enough to get through the month and are are grateful with the assistance provided.
For the families of children with special needs, or with elderly or disabled people, the NGO provides milk powder, oats and diapers as well.
Hope Place carries out deliveries once every two months because there are many families on its recipients list. Currently, the NGO supports more than 170 families.
For more information on how to help, Hope Place can be reached at 013- 5672775 (hotline) or 082- 683378 (office) from 8.30am to 12pm and 2pm to 5pm, Mondays to Fridays; on Saturdays, it can be reached from 9am to 12pm only.
Should the public be interested to make a donation, do request for a receipt from Hope Place staff.
For direct bank-in, members of the public can bank into Persatuan Kebajikan Harapan Kuching, Maybank account no. 5112- 89001160.