Wishesland Miri turns to crowdfunding to offset rising maintenance cost
Wishesland Miri, an organisation that provides welfare support and assistance to children and adults with cerebral palsy, is seeking public support to help cover its facility maintenance, which has shot up to RM150,000 annually.
According to the founder Katharine Chai, the expenses have spiked over the years due to the increase in the number of patients and the impact of the current economic setback.
“We, therefore, would like to appeal for public’s support to enable us to do what we are doing, which is to help children with cerebral palsy and their family to overcome the challenges that come with this disability,” she said when met at the centre recently, upon receiving donations from the Lions Club of Batu Niah, which was represented by its president Andy Jong.
Established in 2020, Wishesland
We, therefore, would like to appeal for public’s support to enable us to do what we are doing, which is to help children with cerebral palsy and their family to overcome the challenges that come with this disability
Katharine Chai
Miri aims to educate families with cerebral palsy children on understanding their disability, as well as on how to cope and help the patients.
It is a non-governmental organisation that operates based on funding from society and also the government.
“The assistance has been fully used to cover the operating costs and facilities upgrading, such as the construction of the boccia hall at Wishesland Miri, the first of its kind in Sarawak,” said Chai.
“The 13m long and 10m wide boccia hall was built at the cost of RM223,000, of which a big portion of the fund came from the Deputy Minister I for Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Sarawak Datuk Sebastian Ting, under his Piasau constituency’s Rural Transformation Programme (RTP) grant,” she added.
It is learned that this facility would be a special training centre for boccia – a precision ball sport that can be played by those with disability.