Be part of something wonderful

Dear Reader,

In May last year, The Star was given a facelift to offer a brighter and breezier paper with a promise to bring journalism of hope to the readers.

But being inspiring is not limited to writing stories that bring hope, belief and action. It is also about living up to the name of being The People’s Paper.

To do this, The Star identified causes that impact society as a whole and most recently, these causes have included heritage preservation, rising cost of living and more.

Today, we announce another cause called “Do Good. Volunteer”. As the name suggests, this cause will promote volunteerism as an essential component of a developing society. A society that volunteers is a society that loves, shares and looks beyond material gains.

The main driver of this campaign is a volunteer matching portal to link volunteers with NGOS and various causes.

With the help of our subsidiary, Leaderonomics, we are in the process of building this portal.

This will be a much needed service to help facilitate the movement of volunteers nationwide and lessen the burden for many associations and NGOS.

We recognise that in order to effect change, we need to lead by example. Hence, we have launched The Star’s Employee Volunteer Programme.

This programme will offer volunteer opportunities for employees to partake in and at the same time encourage them to submit their own volunteer events to rally support amongst their colleagues.

Malaysians in general appreciate opportunities to volunteer. But with less and less time available outside of work, many fall short of their good intentions. There are also those who wish to volunteer and yet do not know how to seek volunteer opportunities. Our portal will help to address these impediments.

To kick off the campaign, The Star has started a collaboration with Ecoteer, an organisation that promotes eco-volunteerism.

Ecoteer will be organising three trips to Perhentian Island where volunteers will be immersed in environmental conservation and community development activities including composting, mentoring village children, beach patrolling and more. Two of the trips will be open to The Star readers.

We will also regularly publish stories featuring volunteers and do-good organisations so that, slowly but surely, we will create a new consciousness and a movement of volunteerism that will ultimately help to shape a better society.

Please join us on this important cause. For a start, check out Star2 to find out more about volunteerism and how to sign up for the Ecoteer trips.

Sincerely, HO KAY TAT, Group Managing Director, Star Publications (M) Bhd.