KUCHING: The Salvation Army Kuching Corps is appealing urgently for public and corporate donation to help 197 fire victims living at a construction site here.
The victims lost the roof over their heads and all their possessions, including important personal documents, when fire razed seven blocks of living quarters recently.
The items needed include rice, noodles, cooking oil, canned food, biscuits; toiletries (shampoo, soap); clothes; kitchen utensils (cooking pots, pans, ‘kuali); mosquito netting, face masks and hand sanitisers.
The non-profit organisation had delivered the first round of emergency relief including rice, eggs, noodles, biscuits, canned food, disposable diapers and milk powder as well clothing donated by the public to the workers and their families.
The Corps officer Captain Raymond Rubi Aloba said they plan to assist these people for the next six months as they need all the help they can get.
“At the same time, The Salvation Army also plans to shelter five children aged nine to 15 years at our children’s home for safety and educational reasons.
“The children are Malaysians whose parents moved to Kuching in search of job opportunities and a better livelihood. When the pandemic struck, they could not return to their villages and had to remain in Kuching with their parents,” he said, adding that they were unable to attend online lessons due to intermittent internet connection and noise at the construction site.
“As a result, two had to drop out of school. The Welfare Department has been informed and they have responded positively to this.
“The families have also visited our home and we are in the process of doing the administrative paperwork to admit the children soon,” he said.
All items to be donated must be in good condition and delivered to The Salvation Army Kuching Corps & Community Services at Sekama Road by Feb 21.
Cash donations can be deposited to Maybank account number 500511960365 (The Salvation Army). To obtain a tax-exempt receipt, send a copy of the transaction receipt to [email protected] with the header “Kuching Fire February 2021”.
For more information, contact Captain Raymond at 082-333981 or send e-mail to [email protected].