KUALA LUMPUR, April 13 — Sunway Group says it continues to shore up its support and relief efforts towards helping those affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and the movement control order (MCO) with a RM34 million pledge committed earlier to benefit at least 40,000 people across the nation.
Founder and chairman Tan Sri Jeffrey Cheah said the coronavirus pandemic has taken a toll on the nation and its people financially, socially and emotionally.
“We would like to do what we can, as a conglomerate with businesses across the country, to provide support and relief efforts for our communities. I truly believe that we can overcome this crisis as a nation. We are all in this together,” he said in a statement today.
The group said Sunway hotels have donated more than 25,000 hygiene items including blankets, shower gel, shampoo, dental kits, small pillows, kitchen gloves and other essentials to Hospital Sungai Buloh in Selangor as well as Hospital Seberang Jaya in Penang.
The contribution, it said, is expected to benefit at least 5,000 individuals to help hospitals cope with an increasing number of patients during this time.
It said another 1,500 repurposed soap bars were donated to correctional facility Pusat Koreksional Puncak Alam in Kajang, to help hundreds of juvenile inmates observe personal hygiene as visitations are not allowed during the MCO.
Sunway hotels, as part of the ongoing #zerofoodwastage initiative in collaboration with Kechara Soup Kitchen Society, have also contributed a total of 415 kg of surplus food since January to benefit some 1,700 of the homeless and urban poor, the group said.
Meanwhile, it said Sunway Malls have banded together for their ‘Food for Thought’ initiative by donating packed foods and groceries worth over RM100,000 to the underprivileged communities in Chow Kit, Cheras, Subang Jaya, Seberang Jaya and Permas Jaya, benefitting at least 6,300 individuals.
Sunway Medical Centre has donated Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) items such as face shields and hand sanitisers to the Subang Jaya Community Ambulance, while free Covid-19 tests were also performed on frontline ambulance teams to ensure their safety and wellbeing.
The group has also donated RM100,000 to Tabung Prihatin by Yayasan Kebajikan Negara (YKN), which will be used to distribute dry groceries, expected to benefit at least 12,000 B40 beneficiaries nationwide.
Separately, Sunway group said its employees have set up the #SunwayforGood Fund in support of their colleagues affected by the MCO including frontline healthcare workers, as well as to support the B40 communities in the vicinity of Sunway townships.
At its launch last week, the fund collected more than RM800,000. An additional RM200,000 has been pledged by the group to work with other non-governmental organisations to reach out to at least 20,000 from other vulnerable communities in the coming months.
In the Northern region, it said Sunway City Ipoh has started a weekly contribution of organic vegetables produced in its organic farm to benefit some 750 frontline healthcare workers and patients of Hospital Raja Permaisuri Bainun, with more than 110 kg of fresh produce delivered to the hospital to date.
In Penang, the group’s property arm has partnered with Mutiara Food Bank to provide hundreds of individuals from financially-stricken B40 families with essential groceries during the MCO.
In the Southern region, the property team has contributed items such as infrared electronic thermometers, face masks and hand sanitisers to better equip over 500 frontline healthcare staff as well as essential and critical service workers including those at Hospital Sultanah Aminah and Iskandar Puteri police headquarters.
The group said it had also earlier contributed RM1 million to the national Covid-19 Fund, which is part of the group’s RM34 million pledge announced last month.
The other contributions include up to RM12 million from Sunway’s healthcare division to cover the cost of subsidising treatment for public patients from Ministry of Health and Universiti Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) hospitals, and RM20 million worth of rent-free days to Sunway Malls’ non-essential retailers, it added. — Bernama
