THE PURR-FECT INITIATIVE

Celcom’s #ICanCareMY initiative aims to help stray cats across the Klang Valley.

IF you’re a cat lover who has always wanted to help strays, you’ll be happy to hear that Celcom is doing its part to empower you to do just that.

Celcom’s #ICanCareMY campaign aims to rescue, rehabilitate, and ultimately, rehome stray cats.

The campaign is an extension of Celcom’s I CAN campaign, launched earlier this year, and it is focused on the three main pillars through which the public can participate: Donate, Volunteer and Adopt.

This drive is part of Celcom’s belief that small actions can lead to big impacts, and that anybody can do their part – it just takes someone to care.

Celcom also hopes to foster this caring spirit among youngsters through an edutainment programme in 40 kindergartens, primary schools, and secondary schools, as well as 12 public event spaces across the Klang Valley throughout 2018.

Through this edutainment programme, students learnt about animal care from experienced speakers and had the opportunity to learn through fun by participating in interactive clay cat-sculpting workshops.

For the adults, there were activities galore as well. Celcom organised a cat-themed art exhibition involving local artists in August.

A FurFest cat-themed event was also held on Dec 22 at Sunway Putra Mall in Kuala Lumpur. It was a funfilled fundraising event that helped save even more stray cats. Activities included an adoption drive, a kids’ colouring competition, and clay cat-making.

All these on-ground activities were aimed towards fanning the public’s passion for helping stray cats – but that’s not all Celcom is doing. The #ICanCareMY hashtag is also gaining presence online with both the public and local influencers pledging towards better animal welfare. To make your pledges, log on to the #ICanCare official website (http://www.icancare.my).

#ICanCareMY has also supported donation drives that will raise funds for Universiti Malaya’s community and sustainability centre.

The donations raised by #ICanCareMY will be used to fund UM’s humane and compassionate management of strays, as well as to support other animal welfare-related organisations through medical provisions, food supplies, research, and investments so they can continue to champion the campaign’s three pillars.

In support of this campaign, #ICanCareMY has also taken full advantage of the #catsofinstagram Instagram hashtag to launch a cat personality that speaks for the campaign, known as Purrteri.

As the campaign’s furry ambassador, Purrteri will speak about campaign updates, sharing, donating, volunteering and adopting opportunities. Follow her journey on the official Celcom Instagram account at @celcom.

If you are interested to donate to the cause, you can contribute digitally via the Boost e-Wallet application, by selecting “Donation” on the “Do More” page and search for the “I Can Care” campaign. Alternatively, you may also make your donations at https://epay.um. edu.my/payment/pay/301 by selecting “Derma – ICAN Care”.

Let’s start the chain of change for better animal welfare! Visit www. icancare.my to submit your digital pledge and find out more.

A screenshot from a short film by Celcom, which was produced to encourage the public to support animal rescue efforts as part of its #ICanCareMY campaign.

Celcom’s #ICanCareMY campaign has also gone to schools, like Wesley Methodist International School, to educate students on things like handling stray cats and managing their well-being.