A Call for Help | Destiny Starting Point Homes
“One is too small a number to achieve any greatness.” - John C. Maxwell
And John, I’ll go on to add that:
“...but all greatness starts with the initiative of one.”
Because in most greatness that we see today, it starts with the intention of one person. Whether it’s unsatisfactoriness, unfairness or just plain uneasiness, those individual realised for anything to happen for anything to be set right, they first need to take the first step.
Img Source : The Star PapersThat’s what @caroljoseph did. From a local newsportal writeup she saw that a few homes were in need of help. She visited one of the homes, was quite touched by what she saw, and realised she wanted to help them do more. She reached out to her friends, one of them being our mutual friend @vincetay, and that was how I got to know about it.
Talk about 6 degrees of separation, huh?
It’s then that I remembered the above quote, and decided to rope @bitrocker2020 to do some kickass Steem charity drive.
And a drive we did.
Yesterday, we drove to one of the homes, Destiny Starting Point <http://www.destinystartingpoint.com/> which is about 20km away.
Me squinting due to the hot sun, while @bitrocker2020 looking tanned.
The home had a nice sign board made up by pieces of wood, probably a project by the boys during their free time. The home was pretty simple, with only the bare furniture. We saw a few boys reading and talking at the living area, spread over 3 mismatched sofas. There was a makeshift dining table, made up by smaller classroom tables of uneven heights. I figured it probably double up as a work area for the boys, and also a play area.
You see, the boys are there because of juvenile cases and most of them are from single-parent homes. Because of that, the home owner, Grace, believed it’s better to keep them in the homes and homeschool them, to avoid them from mixing with the wrong crowd and have the old (bad) habits kicking in again. They do go out daily for studies (at a church nearby), and occasionally has activities planned for them.
It’s a necessary evil. I don’t believe in locking the teens up, but looking at the potential consequences, and to have all her good work undone, I understand why Grace decided to do that.
I saw the entrance to the kitchen, and a room with a couple of bunk beds and some boys sleeping on them. I didn’t enter both, as it was indeed a private space.
Mark, Grace’s son, explained how the homes worked, and it was then that we found that they had 4 homes in total. The one we were at are for teen boys, there’s another for teen girls, another for younger children (below 12), and lastly, one for the homeless and the handicapped elderly. Grace and the team really do have a big heart to take in all those in need, and as Mark went on to say, they solely depended on donations and the good will of the community to support their expenses.
They are very precise with their breakdown of expenses, and as @bitrocker2020 and I looked at it, as business owners ourselves, we have to pat them on the back for being so optimised with their costs and spending. Mind you, in total, they are talking care 25 boys, 18 girls, not counting the young ones and the homeless. As a matter of fact, Mark told me they recently just had their water turned back on because they couldn’t afford the water bill for the past few months. Dry, humid and hot weather, and no water? It’s not funny at all.
Staff and volunteers with big hearts.
This picture is a winner, mainly because of their smiles. The boys, they don’t have much to look forward too, as their parents stayed far away, and probably couldn’t afford to see them often. Their parents tried to donate as much as they can to keep the homes up, but truth is, they themselves are having difficulties coping too. So say that life ain’t easy is an understatement.
The good thing is after the newsportal writeup, they have gotten quite good exposure, and a lot of the largest ticket items they needed were taken care of. Grace gave us a list of necessities that they needed urgently:
- 5 ceiling fans
- 3 blenders
- 2 hot water airport
- Toileries
- shampoo
- talcum
- deoderant
- sanitary pad
- colgate (toothpaste)
- toothbrushes
- baby bath
- shower gel
- dettols
She sent us a couple of pics from the router homes we couldn’t visit too.
So while @bitrocker2020 and I are working our network to reach out to more people for help to fulfil those items off the list, here’s where you can help too. As much as we appreciate MYR donations, let’s make this interesting, shall we?
Since we are on the Steemit platform, you can upvote this post, resteem and share it, because we will be donating the payout amount to the homes. We will use the money to buy the goods, and give them additional cash for their day-to-day expenses. Of course, we accept SBD donations too.
This Steemit Charity Drive (or I would rather call it Steeming Love, but @bitrocker2020 think it sounds too much like a porno production house) is our first, and probably of many to come, to showcase to the community that they do not need to contribute in traditional currency to make a change. With the introduction of digital currencies, we can now use our talents, skills and expertise to scale the impact, and great a bigger, more lasting positive change.
@bitrocker2020, the team and myself would like to thank you in advance for your upvotes, donations and support.
This is also a beta run, and if we can raise $500 for Destiny Homes, the next step is to appoint a lead person (probably @caroljoseph because of her passion), and engineer a strategy to get the homes involved on Steemit too, so they can generate income on their own.
Think about it, a world without charity because everyone is self-sufficient.
Now, that’s something we can all to aspire to, and Steem could be the game changer of it all.
All donations in SBD and STEEM is accepted in @myach account ( Malaysia Accelerator Hub ). If you have a special message which you would like to convey to these children, put it in a memo when transfering your SDB or STEEM we will make sure it is conveyed to them.
If you can't donate , an upvote would be great and all liquid SBD payouts will be used for the donation drive. Leave a comment if you want to send a message to these kids
Good work.
Thanks for your support@geekgirl
Hi #teammalaysia, great job.
You get my (little upvote) support.
Thanks @detlev .. every support counts
This is a great team effort Team Malaysia. Well done! You have my 100% upvote!!
Thanks @livinguktaiwan for your support
Hopefully you meet the target
I'm sure it will ... 😁
I'd like to see some more information about these homes. I have concerns about child welfare institutions, especially when there are children under three years of age.
The UN Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children (A/RES/64/142 ) states
In accordance with the predominant opinion of experts, alternative care for young children, especially those under the age of 3 years, should be provided in family-based settings. Exceptions to this principle may be warranted in order to prevent the separation of siblings and in cases where the placement is of an emergency nature or is for a predetermined and very limited duration, with planned family reintegration or other appropriate long-term care solution as its outcome.
While recognizing that residential care facilities and family-based care complement each other in meeting the needs of children, where large residential care facilities (institutions) remain, alternatives should be developed in the context of an overall deinstitutionalization strategy, with precise goals and objectives, which will allow for their progressive elimination. To this end, States should establish care standards to ensure the quality and conditions that are conducive to the child’s development, such as individualized and small-group care, and should evaluate existing facilities against these standards. Decisions regarding the establishment of, or permission to establish, new residential care facilities, whether public or private, should take full account of this deinstitutionalization objective and strategy.
Hi @penston , thank you for your concerns. I can provide you the contact of the caretaker and also the contact of the reporter who highlighted these homes to us. Could you provide me details of your contact for me to get in touch with you directly . You can find me on both steemit.chat and also on discord.
Lets resteem for their target ...
You got your hearts in the right place! It's a good thing...
Upvoted and resteemed
I need some help. How to resteem this post?
Just click the resteem arrow beside the REPLY
i cannot find that arrow
You guys are awesome !. Keep it up #teammalaysia
Upvoted... will try to get others to up vote as well..
Thx buddy
:)
very good post for a very good moto
Wow! This is an incredible project.
I sent a small donation but I didn't leave a proper message in the memo. Here it is:
Please than the staff for their selflessness. It is amazing what they are doing for these kids.
And please remind the kids that in life "You can do what is easy... or you can do what is right". The sacrifices that they are making are RIGHT. It would be easy for them to leave the home, live on the streets and have total "freedom" ... but to have no future at all. By staying in this home, learning how to appropriately interact with others, and working hard on their education, they are opening many doors in their future.
thanks @hanshotfirst ... we'll convey out the message. thanks a lot
@zublizainordin says... @myach keep on keeping on. There are times, miracle do happen.
#zublizainordin
#teammalaysia
Upvoted!
Looking awesome, sure all the kids were superbly blessed, good on you guys in sharing the Christmas spirit
keep it going man. Will get my upvote weight more kuat for this!
Really great guys, throwing my full support behind this!
thank buddy ! really appreciate it
Great initiative
Upvoted and resteemed, and shared the fb post.
Btw...you two very much look like brothers @bitrocker2020 & @maverickfoo
LoL ... It's the glasses
Great initiative master... now i can see how we can make full use of steemit to support community... grats!
Lets not pretend the world is perfect and all this kids deserve a better life .
Exactly ... ✌️
Inspiring. @unilight as inspi steemit Resteem this post written by @myach
It's such a wonderful initiative. I didn't know Steemit dollars can do so much. Create content, get paid and even do good. Perfect! Voted and resteem
Blessing to all of you for organizing this. Sending love and lights too.
Will resteem to spread the words around
Thx bro
Great job guys! Upvoted and resteemed!
Nice post
Don't forget follow me @rajaaa
You guys are awesome. I hope you meet the goal. Upvoted and sending love ❤️❤️❤️❤️
We hope so too
Great job guys ! Upvoted and resteemed. Keep it going (I’d say keep steeming but it sounds so wrong lol)
Great job
What can anyone of us do rather than supporting this initiative with a 100% vote? I really like what you're up to! Go on!
We also accept direct Steem/SBD donations sent to @myach
Count on one ;) Just gotta wait for the next Payout to come :)
Update: Donation Done ;)
every little bit counts .. thank you for your donations and upvotes in advance
Great job guys :)
"May they have a blessed Christmas !"
I really hope that my upvote could help them,
so they can generate income on their own.
Hopefully you meet the target
Really good work! Keepi it up!