Hello, holiday season! One of our favourite times of the year, filled with treating our loved ones and indulging in festivities. December is also the best time to create healthy habits and refine our routines – it’s our chance to rest, refocus and recharge for the new year.
Community service project group, Heart To Heart MY, would like to help you with your self-care routine, especially during these trying times. They’ve organised a virtual self-care charity talk to provide participants with tips and advice from content creator, Bay Doucet, Velvet Vanity Cosmetics founder, Adlina Nadirah, and their very own self-care booklet.
For only RM30, which will be fully donated to the Selangor’s People Voice, you’ll be able to have a personalised experience by sharing your interests and hobbies. You’ll learn how to create or redesign a self-care routine that you’ll look forward to doing every single day! If you’re an early bird, you’ll also receive a printed self-care guide, planner and sticker set to kickstart the new year.
Register now!
Heart To Heart MY
Heart To Heart MY is a community service project consisting of a group of students who aim to help those in need. By raising funds through different fundraising activities, all proceeds are donated to the Selangor People’s Voice – helping B40 and M40 families.
As health officials continue to urge us to stay at home to stop the spread, we must remember that staying at home is a privilege. Yes, the pandemic is hard for us all, but it is important to acknowledge the different realities others face with underprivileged families being affected the most.
Some members of these disadvantaged groups depend on a daily income to take care of their families and themselves, so the negative economic impact has left them even more vulnerable. Staying at home also poses a threat to women and children who have to live with their abusers.
We must stand together and support these severely affected communities, as well as frontline workers who might be heroes but are also still human – they are struggling to work around the clock with the limited resources available.
NGOs have proven to necessity these past few months, so here’s how you can help:
- Donate to emergency food aid boxes
Charity Right Malaysia reduces the burden of families by providing them with a steady supply of meals every month. They aim to keep children in school instead of having to quit and support their family.
2. Buy a meal for someone in need
Sponsor hearty meals for charity homes through Ari’s Offering. Their social giving programme allows you to make recurring donations with every RM10 contributing to a meal.
3. Help Sabah’s healthcare system
The lack of medical resources, including hospital beds, has Sabah struggling with their overwhelming amount of cases. Mercy Malaysia is raising funds for medical equipment and you can find more ways to help, even with their mental health, here.
4. Support domestic abusive survivors
The Women’s Aid Organisation provides mental health and crisis support to women and children who have experienced abuse. Lockdowns, around the world, have caused a rise in domestic violence.
5. Supply frontlines with personal protective equipment
Semporna Heroes helps assist hospital workers, collecting funds to purchase food and medical supplies for frontliners. They also donate carepacks to struggling communities in Semporna.
This is why we need to work together and do our best to help each other out. It may seem like a small act to some, but your donation can make a huge difference!
This Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we’re collaborating with conceptual photographer, Daniel Adams, to raise funds for the National Cancer Society Malaysia!
Every year, 2.1 million women get diagnosed with breast cancer – putting 1 in 19 Malaysian women at risk.
Daniel has photographed 5 resilient breast cancer survivors, capturing the essence of how they’ve thrived despite adversity as they pose powerfully among petals, representing how much they’ve grown and flourished along the way. These beautiful portraits have been printed on tote bags, stickers and A5 prints to be sold with 100% of the profits going to charity.
Show your support by purchasing these empowering pieces! Purchases can be made here from the 19th to 31st of October.
Don’t forget to check yourself.
It has been mandatory to wear a mask in public places, but with the ongoing spike in Coronavirus cases – we’re all left fearing another nationwide lockdown that poses a major threat to our economy, social well-being and mental health. Although it is more likely that they will continue with regional lockdowns and strict travel restrictions, marginalized groups like lower-income workers, along with women, youth and minorities, will still be deeply affected.
Social enterprises have helped out with the crisis from feeding the underprivileged to even providing them with jobs. Many have seen the increasing demand for washable, more environmentally-friendly face masks as an opportunity to supply B40 women, Orang Asli mothers, the OKU Group and refugee communities with an income.
Here’s where you can buy a reusable face mask that contributes to these charitable causes:
Posted by Cuci Ceria Project on Thursday, October 1, 2020
The Cuci Ceria Project uses recycled cotton fabrics for their face masks, which are made by refugee and B40 women. With every adult mask purchased, they will donate two masks to those who are unable to afford it.
Made in Sabah, Changgih Designs hires local moms and artisans to produce their products from handbags and wallets to face masks. Their #Give10ToSabah program sees 10% of their profits being used to help other Sabahans and the community.
Earth Heir is a luxury brand that is fair trade certified with the World Fair Trade Organisation. They engage in ethical partnerships by supporting ethnic and refugee artisans with income opportunities and career development.
A collaboration between grassroots organisations and local artisans, INKAA partners with marginalised communities to produce their products and ensure fair wages. Each purchase supports the livelihood of these communities.
Komuniti Tukang Jahit provides women who are home-based tailors with job opportunities. This enables housewives, single women and single mothers to earn a sustainable income from home.
6. Mangosteen
Mangosteen uses 100% of their profits to help empower the lives of women and children in Southeast Asia. Their hand sanitisers are made by Orang Asli mothers, and their reusable face masks are made by mothers from the B40 and refugee communities
A transformational enterprise, Sew x Dignity empowers youth and women from refugee communities. All profits are put back into the Foundation to train more students on how to start their own enterprise.
8. Surya Bags
Women/teenager
Posted by SURYA BAGS on Thursday, September 24, 2020
Surya Bags are handmade in Malaysia by refugees from Myanmar. They help those who fled their homeland to escape dangerous situations and forced labour.
9. The Asli Co
The Asli Co works with Orang Asli women to support their children’s education. By employing women from marginalised communities, they are also able to help keep indigenous kids in school.
By hiring local artisans to produce their batik products, The Batik Boutique is able to provide them with a fair, sustainable income, as well as marketable skills. Their vision is to empower hundreds of women with the opportunity to provide for themselves and their families.
11. The Y Shop
Posted by YWCA KL on Saturday, May 23, 2020
The Young Women’s Christian Association started a sewing workshop for young women in the B40 community. This grew into an online store with bags being made by these women, providing them with an income.
Wellness is more than skin deep
One of the biggest myths about self-care is that it’s a luxury. Don’t believe the hype. Wellness has been promoted as lavish spa treatments, expensive facial creams and exotic vacations, when in reality, it’s mundane activities like allowing yourself to sleep in on the weekends and unfollowing social media accounts that make you feel bad. Sure it can be pretty pricey to pay for a therapist, sign up for a gym and stock up on healthy food, but financial wellness isn’t how much you spend on wellness – it’s about the wellbeing of your finances.
It’s hard to feel good when your finances aren’t looking good. The stress can even take a toll on your health and unfortunately, some financial situations might make it hard to get help. Don’t beat yourself up when it comes to things you can’t control, but by being more diligent about money management and mindfully spending within your means – you’ll be able to improve your financial health and prepare for a rainy day or emergencies. This is especially the case in today’s climate as we face the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Learn to plan better
- Being aware of what you have can truly empower you. Knowing how much money you have in your bank account can help you better manage what goes towards your expenses, such as bills, spend (your wants and desires) and savings – this can ultimately help you monitor your finances and identify how to improve it.
- Decide what your goal targets are for each category and stick to it – it’s better to be realistic in your targets, than idealistic, to make it more achievable.
- Create a yearly budget to track your expenses – there are a lot of tools that can help you with that, which we’ll share in future stories.
Contribute meaningfully to others
Once you have yourself and your family covered, it would be great to consider the community and those in need. You can allocate some of your finances for meaningful contributions (one-off or monthly) to charitable causes that you believe in – whether it’s geared to help those who are underprivileged, raise environmental awareness, find a cure or encourage the advancement of creative industries. The opportunities are plentiful and the choice is yours – go for a cause that reflects your passion and champion it! As Sam Smith’s Money On My Mind goes, “do it for the love – of yourself and others”.
