PETALING JAYA, November 9 — The Lions Club of Subang Jaya (LCSJ) is lending a helping hand to those impacted by the Covid-19 outbreak in Sabah by donating 100,000 pieces of child medical face masks.
“Face masks for children, which are smaller, are very difficult to source. It’s even harder for those living in the interiors,” said Subang Jaya assemblywoman Michelle Ng, as reported by SJ Echo.
“This contribution by the Lions Club will help to protect the children in Sabah, especially those from poor families who can’t afford to buy these masks to protect themselves and their families.”
The face masks were airlifted into Sabah two days ago and will be distributed throughout the state by LCSJ’s partner, the Sabah Methodist Crisis Relief & Development (MCRD) team.
“Given the severity of the outbreak in Sabah, we decided to reach out to some of the NGOs there and found out that they are lacking or running out of basic personal protective equipment (PPE) like face masks,” said LCSJ organising chairperson Jimmy Yeap in an interview with Malay Mail.
“We chose to airlift the masks into Sabah to get it to those in need as soon as possible. We just want to prepare the families and their children. If school reopens or if they have to go out, at least they have proper face masks.”
Yeap added that the market price for children face masks is also very high, making it almost impossible for underprivileged families to purchase these masks regularly.
The geographical distribution in Sabah also makes it harder for poorer families from small towns and villages to travel to purchase their essential needs such as face masks.
The three-ply face masks are medical grade and specifically designed to fit on the faces of children aged between four to 12 years old.
Sabah MCRD will be distributing the face masks around the state at villages, schools and children’s hospitals, especially those that are located in the harder to reach rural areas.
This isn’t LCSJ’s first initiative aimed at providing aid to those in need either as the community club has served over 40,000 hot meals and 10 tonnes of groceries to over 1,000 families since the movement control order was put in place back in March.
LCSJ has also donated RM60,000 worth of PPEs to both medical and law enforcement frontliners during the pandemic.
