Generous Malaysians Sponsor Over 80 Underprivileged Children For A Day Out At The Cinema
It started with a desire to initiate something to bond with the children and a person's generosity that led to a successful crowdfunding project.
By Tang Ruxyn — 06 Oct 2015, 12:01 PM
When Wan Nur Arina bt Rashidan thought of bringing 15 girls for a movie treat, she didn't expect the number to go up to more than 80 children altogether but that's exactly what happened.
In a short period of time, Arina managed to raise enough funds through a crowdfunding project that she initiated using Facebook to sponsor children from 3 homes for a movie treat.
On 5 September, more than 80 underprivileged children from Home of Peace Kuala Lumpur, Lighthouse Children Welfare Home Association, and Pusat Jagaan Rumah Kesayangan Petaling Jaya enjoyed a movie outing at Sunway Pyramid, where they got to watch 'Inside Out'.
All of the children's tickets were sponsored, and each of them even had a free popcorn and an 'Inside Out' cup for them to bring back.
Arina said, "The cutest part was before the children went back, they asked where to put the cups and I said that the cup was theirs."
"Their eyes widened and asked, "We can keep this cup? We can bring back? Ini saya punya? Boleh simpan?" and I said, "Yes, yes, yes!""
"Everyone was happy that it's something that they can use, but I had to remind them to drink lots of plain water, not sugary ones!" Arina said.
Arina's crowdfunding project was so successful that she didn't just raised enough funds to sponsor the children for a movie and gave each of them something to bring home, but she also raised an extra RM1,000 which she had given out equally to each home involved!
Amazingly, the whole initiative started with that one person who contributed RM50, which led Arina to start crowdfunding.
"I talked to someone about how I wanted to do this but I wasn't sure when I should start, so she gave me RM50 and said it is for five kids - it was a big push for me to get out there and start crowdfunding! If it weren't for that RM50, I probably wouldn't have started it," Arina told.
The movie outing was her own initiative, but Arina had a lot of support from her family, friends and strangers who talked to her and chipped in for the project.
"It wasn't supposed to be a big event to begin with."
It all started when the psychology student from International Medical University (IMU) was doing her internship in Malaysia's volunteering network, Do Something Good under a company called Tandemic, when she visited Home of Peace Kuala Lumpur where she met 15 girls from underprivileged backgrounds
The purpose for the visitation was merely for a meeting to talk about an art therapy program she was planning to have with the girls there, but she found herself befriending the girls in the home.
"They love reading, singing, dancing and doing handstands together. They are such bright girls with great personalities. The 15 girls touched my heart and I decided to organize a movie as a treat for them through crowdfunding on my Facebook profile."
"Within 20 minutes after I posted up the request, all the girls were sponsored, which is amazing! But even after I announced that we had enough, messages kept popping up from friends and strangers asking if they could still sponsor."
The response that she received from the public was "overwhelmingly positive" that she eventually extended the outing to three homes for underprivileged children
"Even after getting 43 children, a lot of people still sent in messages and called me up as they were interested in sponsoring the children."
"So I asked my mom for advice - she suggested that we take another home called Pusat Jagaan Rumah Kesayangan Petaling Jaya. My parents have been helping the home from time to time by sending food and do minor refurbishments - there were 40 of them!"
In less than a week's time, Arina organised everything with the help from her mother
"My mom, Sharifah, helped a lot with the accounting part of the project - we are both busy with work and often come back late so for the past few nights prior to the movie day we have been staying up till 3 in the morning to sort out the finances."
"After the movie, all the children were excited, happy and they kept saying "Thank you, Akka Arina. Thank you, Arina" which really touched my heart. It was not easy for one person to organize and it was the first time I organized something this big on my own," Arina said.
Arina is deeply encouraged from the support she received from the public, and she is keeping an eye to do more community projects in the near future
"I've made a lot of new friends, mostly with the sponsors. I haven't met most of them in person, but I believe friendships built on a mutual intention of contributing to social good are the ones worth to have and keep."
"A lot of them were very encouraging, asking me to do more and they would like to get involved in the future."
"This has given me a boost in my confidence and my head is buzzing with more community project ideas - all I need now is to find time for it!"