Students used their hard earned pocket money to support MAPPAC in the fundraiser. Photos: KitaKitar
It is always heartbreaking for parents when a child is terminally ill, hence the importance of hospice care to make their time together comfortable and meaningful. With that in mind, the first Children’s Hospice Centre in Malaysia, which has been five years in the making, was launched on Jun 17, to provide dedicated hospice support for children with life-threatening illnesses.
To support the venture, St Joseph’s Institution International School Malaysia (SJIIM) Tropicana PJ Campus collaborated with Malaysian Association of Paediatric Palliative Care (MAPPAC) to raise funds to purchase essential drugs and medical equipment for the hospice centre.
Brisk sales from supportive parents.
“Moved by the critical work that hospice professionals do to improve quality of life for children in hospice care, we ran the fundraising campaign on campus to purchase the much needed medical equipment,” says SJIIM head of school Gary Cairns.
“We were inspired by our founder St John Baptiste de Lasalle’s mission of ‘service to the last, the lost and the least’, and themed ‘Share Care’, the campaign was run from May 2 to 16 in conjunction with our Founder’s Day. It involved both student and parent volunteers,” he says.
Cairns says that SJIIM’s objective was not merely to raise funds, but to integrate various service programmes within the school community.
Within two days, the initial target of RM15,000 was reached, and after two weeks, RM82,720 was raised by the school community.
Thank you gift tags hand drawn by elementary school children.Led by KitaKitar, a sustainability-focused parent volunteer service, donors received handcrafted merchandise, homegrown plants and thank-you gift tags made by students, as thanks for their generosity.
Based on the reduce-reuse-recycle ethos, KitaKitar offers an opportunity for parents to co-participate with their children on CSR projects. 100% of KitaKitar’s net proceeds are channelled to disadvantaged communities.
An Upcycled Craft Fair was also organised to sell upcycled items such as hair accessories, lanyards, pouches and tote bags that were created by parent volunteers from unusable secondhand uniforms and embellished with the artwork from students in Years Two and Three. The successful fair contributed RM7,680 towards the charity fund in just three hours.
SJIIM’s support of MAPPAC started in 2022 with the Angel Card project where Year Three students designed cards to encourage children with life limiting illnesses, their family members and healthcare staff who work with these children, reveals Joanna Chellam, who is part of the KitaKitar team.
Parent and student volunteers manning the stalls at the Upcycled Craft Fair.
Planned future collaborations include an interactive Sixth Form Learning Forum with a Paediatric Palliative Care team in September 2023, student participation in the Malaysian Children’s Hospice Festival in December 2023 and Student Internships in 2024.
MAPPAC president Dr Lee Chee Chan reveals that as a result of the charity fund, a suite of medical equipment including ventilators, oxygen tanks, suction pumps, ripple mattresses, infusion pumps and an oximeter was purchased for the Children’s Hospice Centre in time for its launch.
“Palliative care aims at improving the quality of life of patients and their families facing the challenges associated with life-limiting illnesses, and we’d like to express our gratitude and appreciation to SJIIM, the parents of SJIIM and KitaKitar for their efforts during your ‘Share Care’ campaign to raise funds for medical equipment and medicine, which was most timely for the launch and set up of the Children’s Hospice, says Lee.
Generous donors received plant pots as thank you gifts.
MAPPAC is a registered non-profit non-governmental organisation which aims to provide a platform for healthcare providers, volunteers and caregivers to contribute towards the development of paediatric palliative care in Malaysia.
SJIIM head of school Gary Cairns presents the cheque to President of MAPPAC Dr Lee Chee Chan, at the launch of the first Children’s Hospice in Malaysia.Cairns says that visiting the Children’s Hospice during the launch was an immensely moving experience.
“Seeing firsthand the dedication of Dr Lee and his team and hearing the stories of the people that MAPPAC has supported shows the difference they’re making in the lives of these families, and SJIIM will continue to support the critical work that MAPPAC does,” he says.
Encouraged by the outpouring of generous support by Malaysians, Dr Lee also announced that MAPPAC is in the process of establishing a second Children’s Hospice Centre in Klang by the end of the year.
“We’re hopeful that the second Malaysian Children’s Hospice Fundraising Bazaar event at the Pusat Kreatif Kanak-Kanak Tengku Bainun, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Kuala Lumpur on Dec 10 will provide MAPPAC with a sound financial standing to support MCHKL and MCHK in the future,” he says.
Giving them hope
Students used their hard earned pocket money to support MAPPAC in the fundraiser. Photos: KitaKitar
Brisk sales from supportive parents.
More than 400 pieces of upcycled merchandise were created by parent volunteers for the Upcycled Craft Fair.
Parent and student volunteers manning the stalls at the Upcycled Craft Fair.
KitaKitar parent volunteers upcycling old school uniforms into hair accessories.
Elementary school students design artwork for upcycled tote bags.
SJIIM Parent volunteers donated their time and artistry, creating beautiful personalised merchandise from cloth scraps.
Generous donors received plant pots as thank you gifts.
Generous donors received plant pots as thank you gifts.
SJIIM head of school Gary Cairns presents the cheque to President of MAPPAC Dr Lee Chee Chan, at the launch of the first Children’s Hospice in Malaysia.
KitaKitar volunteer Grandma Wee.
Thank you gift tags hand drawn by elementary school children.
Upcycled SJIIM uniform into hair accessories.
