‘We’re grateful for the grocery aid’
Vouchers come in handy for 200 households
PETALING JAYA: With a monthly salary of less than RM2,000 and four children to feed, factory operator Mohd Rafi Majid struggled to stretch every ringgit up to the end of each month.
“I have four kids aged between two and 17, and my wife is a housewife. I spend more than RM500 monthly on groceries,” he revealed.
But with the aid he received via the #ShopSomethingNice programme, Mohd Rafi, 46, said he felt a burden had lifted off his shoulders.
He was one of 200 heads of household chosen to receive a voucher worth RM200 under the programme.
The vouchers worth RM40,000 were for goods sponsored by the public and companies such as Mydin, Nestle and Staedtler.
“I’m grateful for the aid,” Mohd Rafi said when met at Community Hall Jalan PJS 6 here where the redemption of goods such as rice, oil, sanitary napkins and school stationery was carried out yesterday.
The programme is under the bigger #SaySomethingNice campaign organised by Zubedy (M) Sdn Bhd since 2011.
Ishak Mat Yusoff, 32, who is unemployed and has six children aged between two months and six years, said his wife works as a secretary and they live with his parents and two brothers in a flat.
“The programme really helps as I have to spend about RM700 monthly on necessities for my family,” he said.
Physically disabled K. Parthasrathy, 58, shared the same sentiment.
“I used to be a security guard but since my road accident five years ago, I’ve been unable to work.
“I now live at home with my wife and our two sons, who are also physically unfit to work,” he said.
#ShopSomethingNice programme coordinator Dini Dayana said those benefiting from the giveaway included single mothers, retirees and children.
The recipients were from Desa Mentari apartments and People’s Housing Project (PPR) Lembah Subang and were chosen after a survey by Neighbourhood Watch, said Dini.
“In line with the #SaySomethingNice campaign’s values of unity, they come from diverse backgrounds and ethnicity,” she said.
The annual campaign, which started on Aug 25, runs from National Day to Malaysia Day and is aimed at promoting unity among Malaysians via do-good initiatives.
In Kuala Lumpur on Saturday night, another programme under the campaign, #ServeSomethingNice, saw Zubedy staff and volunteers roaming around Sentul, Chow Kit, Petaling Street and Dang Wangi areas to provide food and medical aid for the city’s homeless.
Managing director Anas Zubedy said the programme had been carried out annually since 2013 in collaboration with Kechara Soup Kitchen.
The project, he added, is also to promote unity and togetherness among Malaysians “by helping our brothers and sisters who are in dire need of assistance”.
“As a nation, we swing from moments of unity to moments of disunity and vice versa.
“The more moments of unity we create, the more we dilute the voices of disunity,” he said.