Lunch and haircuts for senior citizens

POKOK SENA: IN conjunction with Parents Day, Aman Central Mall hosted a lunch and gave free haircuts to elderly folk at Rumah Sejahtera Pokok Sena.

The haircuts were sponsored by the mall’s retail tenant, De’Touch.

After lunch, the residents were given goodie bags containing basic necessities.

Aman Central Mall is a development project by Belleview Group.

Belleview Group marketing and leasing manager Michelle Chong said: “Aman Central believes in its tagline ‘Where Everything Comes Together’.

“We want to be able to make life great for everybody and that includes the poor and needy in our community.”

The old folks home is run by Majlis Pusat Kebajikan Semenanjung Malaysia, a non-governmental organisation.

“The home was set up in 1960 on four hectares of land given by the government,” said the home’s executive committee chairman, Datuk Dr Ch’ng Kok Heong.

“However, due to mismanagement by some, we lost two hectares of land which was sold off. So, we are now left with two hectares.

“The government gives us RM240 per month for meals for the old folk and the rest of the money comes from public donations.

“The public has been very helpful and we have even managed to put up a new building costing RM1.5 million with funds from the public. In addition, the surveyors, architects and engineers working on the project did it free of charge.

“The staff are all volunteers. Some are from Universiti Utara Malaysia, Lions Club and the Buddhist Association, to name a few.

“The old folk who come to live here are usually sent by the Welfare
Department.

“Our condition is that they should be able-bodied. Most of them should be able to look after themselves as well as work together as a community to do simple chores within the home,” said Ch’ng.

One of the home’s residents, Lai Ho Chan, 76, said she had only been living there for about six months.

Lai enjoys gardening and spends a lot of time keeping the compound immaculate.

“I used to live in Jitra where I looked after small children for a family,” she said.