COVID RELIEF PROJECT
Persatuan Yoga Malaysia or The Malaysian Yoga Society (MYS) was formally established as a mental and physical health-oriented humanitarian organization in November 2004. Non-sectarian in nature, the Malaysian Yoga Society is purely in pursuit of creating awareness and understanding of yoga as a science of holistic self-development for individuals in society. The Malaysian Yoga Society aims to do this through teaching and practice, and various other related charitable activities.
*Covid-19 Support Initiatives*
We have set up a team to extend basic food supplies to families who are in need. We are aiming to support the physically disabled, very poor families, single mothers, and elderly senior citizens with our distributions.
Namaskar dearest readers,
On the 18th of March 2020, our country went through a nationwide lockdown to combat the global pandemic of the Corona Virus. Our government took considerable measures to make sure that the safety of our citizens became the mission of hundreds and thousands of those in the front line – the police, military, and medical officers were on their toes round the clock. We thank them with utmost reverence for the sacrifices made to keep all of us safe.
Due to the pandemic, the Malaysian Yoga Society (MYS) partook in a support initiative in response to the calls of distress from members of our society. The President of MYS, Master Manisekaran, assembled a team of youths nicknamed MAYI Youth, and with the support of 25 dynamic young individuals, the Covid-19 Lifeline Support task was executed.
Our main aim was to reach out to the vulnerable members of the society who were impacted by the sudden loss of income during the Movement Control Order (MCO).
We also reached out to single mothers, senior citizens, and the physically disabled. MAYI Youth team commenced the project with the aid of many friends and families who provided support in cash and kind. With a support team readily available on social media platforms, we were able to connect with our targeted community members.
With the assistance of dynamic volunteers from far and near, our team worked on a 24 to 48 -hour response strategy to reach out to areas within Klang Valley (i.e. Petaling Jaya, Puchong, Kota Damansara, Selayang, Gombak, Rawang, and Klang). We registered our list of needy families with the local welfare council (JKM) to ensure smooth handing over of the food supplies. The groceries which were mainly dry food consisted of a package of basic items such as a 10 kg bag of rice, cooking oil, milk, spices, tea sachets, biscuits, and some other essentials. Each family was given a package to tide them over for three weeks.
On hearing the plight of families running low on cooking supplies in other states, we decided to extend a helping hand to a few neighboring states namely Selangor, Perak, Pahang, and Penang. By the 4th week of the MCO, we had reached out to more than 500 families consisting of more than 2,000 individuals. We were fortunate to also provide aid to many families of foreign workers who were on a day-to-day wage. The volunteer members displayed outstanding courage to reach out to fellow members of humanity. We can only utter our utmost heartfelt gratitude to all those who served selflessly and made sacrifices with love to help fellow beings.
– Roy