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KUALA LUMPUR: Dignity and Services (D&S), a non-governmental organisation that focuses on helping individuals with learning disabilities, has developed a programme that gives something back to donors.
Its chairman, Josh Green, explained that if a company donated RM500, half of the sum would be considered as cost of purchases from its bakery at Leisure Commerce Square in Bandar Sunway, Petaling Jaya.
“The average lunch costs RM10 to RM15, so if you have 15 persons in your office, you could buy them lunch. We will deliver,“ he explained. The remaining RM250 would go into underwriting D&S charity efforts.
Green said the organisation hoped that the programme could ensure that it got regular funding. “If we have regular orders, it will also help us organise our business better and we won’t end up unable to meet everyone’s demands,“ he said.
He pointed out that many companies and organisations hosted lunches for staff or clients on a regular basis, and D&S hoped to get some of that business.
D&S launched its bakery business in 2007 when a group of caregivers decided to teach their special needs children how to cook and bake. They started small with only an 18-inch oven in their premises in Taman Tun Dr Ismail here.
“Word slowly got around and orders started streaming in,“ Green recalled.
In 2011, D&S gave the business a new name — Bake With Dignity (BWD) — and in October 2016 it opened its outlet in Leisure Commerce Square. The bakery is managed by individuals with autism and Down Syndrome.
D&S serves as an advocacy group to help adults with learning disabilities through another programme that is run during the weekends.
“Under our two active programmes, we equip young adults with the skills to find employment and live independently,“ said D&S executive director Helen Teh.
“We are able to provide a safe and sheltered environment for special needs individuals to earn a living. At the bakery, we serve sweet and savoury items, brownies, cakes with or without toppings and even lunch meals,“ she said.
Teh said BWD has the capability to organise lunches for up to 120 persons.
Today, 10 individuals work full time and part time at BWD.
More information is available at www.dignityandservices.org.
