‘Bags of Love’ Give-Away in Penang
On the 15th of November, a long time student of mine, Patsy, organized an event called ‘Bags of Love’. It was held at Penang Times Square, on the 1st Floor Concourse Area. The event was kindly graced by the presence of YB Chow Kon Yeow, the State Local Traffic Management and Flood Mitigation Chairman. Together with Patsy, they both handed out 500 school bags and stationary sets to children from poor families, orphanages and shelter homes. How wonderful!!
Ever since 2012, the ‘Bags of Love’ event has been a yearly act of kindness by Kechara Penang towards the local Penang community. This year, through the kindness of loyal supporters, Patsy and her team managed to raise a total of RM25,000 to make this event possible. More than 300 children and their representatives attended the event to receive their gifts from Kechara Penang. The beneficiaries were from:
- Persatuan Ibu Tunggal (The Single Mother’s Association),
- Persatuan Kebajikan Anak-Anak Islam Pulau Pinang (Penang Islamic Children’s Charitable Association),
- Ramakrishna Ashrama,
- Ryu Yi Children’s Home,
- Children’s Protection Society,
- Ajar Ajar USM Penang, Seri Chahaya Orphanage,
- Penang Sheng Neng Childcare Association,
- Persatuan Anak Anak Yatim Chi Yun (Chi Yun Orphanage),
- Pertubuhan Kebajikan Da Zhi Jiang Tang (Da Zhi Jiang Tang Charitable Organization),
- SRJK Chong Cheng,
- SJKC Sum Min, and
- SRJK Li Tek A
As a mother herself, Patsy made sure that all 300 children had a good time during the event. She arranged for two clowns to entertain the children and had snacks such as cupcakes, popcorn and candy floss available for everyone. The children were also each given a goodie bag filled with various food items that any child would be happy to receive hehe
I am very happy to see Kechara Penang being consistent and productive with their community work. It is good that they care for these young children, providing them with these basic necessities to support them whilst in school. Patsy is naturally very motherly, warm and caring. I rejoice to see her use those qualities to benefit more people, and not just limited to those within her immediate circle. As she grows older and touches more lives in a positive way, she’ll find herself gradually becoming happier.
In giving to others, you give to yourself; in giving to yourself, you give to others because the happier you become, the more you can do for others. And the only way to create happiness for yourself is by making other people happy. There are people who have pursued helping others, and they are much happier than people who pursue themselves.
Below are some pictures from this event. Do take a look and rejoice in another successful event!
Tsem Rinpoche
Pictures from the event
School bags and stationary sets that will be given away to over 300 children.
Kechara Penang’s dedicated volunteers packing the goodie bag for each child. How kind of them…
At Time Square Penang. It’s nice to see a mall being used for such compassionate purposes.
YB Chow Kon Yeow delivering his speech during the event.
Patsy, Manager of Kechara Paradise Penang & Centre Director of Kechara Soup Kitchen Penang, giving her opening speech during the event.
Children lining up to collect their new school bags.
YB Chow Kon Yeow handing out school bags to each happy child.
Girls from the Penang Islamic Children’s Charitable Association receiving a bag of love.
More bags of love!
May these items continue to encourage these children to study in school.
Candy floss for the children…
Free-flow of popcorn!
Food and water prepared by our volunteers for the young children.
Happy faces after receiving their goodie bags!
Children from the Children Protection Society taking a group photo after receiving their new school bags.
A group picture of the children from Persatuan Ibu Tunggal (The Single Mother’s Association). How wonderful…
Children from Ramakrishna Ashrama.
While waiting for their turn to receive their bags of love, there were clowns to entertain the children!
What a fun event!
Nice to see this boy enjoying his day out!
Cute sign
YB Chow Kon Yeow receiving a token of appreciation from Kechara through Patsy Gooi.
(from left) Mr Gooi Soon Lee (Patsy’s husband), YB Chow Kon Yeow, and Patsy Gooi.
The kind volunteers who spent their valuable time to benefit these young children. Thank you very much for your support towards Kechara’s efforts towards community work!
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It was indeed a joyous moment for the children and this would not be possible without the combined efforts from Patsy and her team. Very happy to see their smiling faces and Rinpoche quoted it well “In giving to others, you give to yourself; in giving to yourself, you give to others because the happier you become, the more you can do for others. And the only way to create happiness for yourself is by making other people happy. ”
Once again, thank you Patsy and her KSK Team, and lastly, Penang Boleh!!
Many thanks to Patsy for arranging such a wonderful event for the children and for giving them all the wonderful gifts and lovely food that all children are sure to enjoy! hehe.
This is a wonderful example of how we can develop a sense of compassion for others and a simple yet extremely powerful way to benefit the children, who wouldn’t necessarily have had the opportunity to have decent school bags and stationary.
The act of providing children with supplies that they need for their education is something that i have been encouraged to do since a young age. In some cultures this is a common practice of providing for children and their education. I really do rejoice for the hard work and effort Patsy and the team put into this compassionate event full of love.
Thank you Rinpoche for the profound teaching. “In giving to others, you give to yourself; in giving to yourself, you give to others because the happier you become, the more you can do for others And the only way to create happiness for yourself is by making other people happy.”
Patsy is the rock behind Kechara Penang. She started with managing Kechara Paradise in Penang and she also started to give out food to the homeless in Penang which led to the establishing the Soup Kitchen in OEnang. Since it’s establishment, the centre has provided thousands of packs of food for the homeless and the urban poor. Also, has helped many less fortunate people with events like this. Congratulations, Patsy for a job well done and thank you for your kindness in giving to others.
Of course, thank you to Rinpoche for forever giving guidance and support.