BEFORE the start of the Hari Raya festivities, the Maybank group embarked on a CSR initiative to bring comfort and cheer to 2,500 patients at 14 major government hospitals throughout the country.
Under the ‘Kasih Ramadan’ initiative, Maybank visited patients at the oncology, geriatric and paediatric wards in Hospital Kuala Lumpur. The contributions were from the Zakat Wakalah funds of Maybank Group employees with consent from Pusat Pungutan Zakat – Majlis Agama Islam Wilayah Persekutuan.
During the event, Maybank’s group chief human capital officer Nora Abdul Manaf was accompanied by fellow Maybankers. The well-wishers handed over packets of raya cookies and duit raya to more than 200 patients.
Concurrently, the same initiative was carried out at 13 other government hospitals in various other states.
“We want to share the blessings of Ramadan and the joy of Hari Raya by distributing festive goodies to the patients whilst providing them with moral support. At the same time, we also feel it is important to help promote greater unity and harmony amongst the people, and ensure that those who are ill can still enjoy some of the festive cheer despite being in a hospital environment,” Nora said.
The cookies were purchased from entrepreneurs under Maybank Foundation’s Reach Independence & Sustainable Entrepreneurship (R.I.S.E.) programme and Maybank Kim Eng’s Trade [&Give] participants, which are programmes of the group to support the underprivileged communities by equipping them with entrepreneurial skills.
“Our R.I.S.E. programme has been immensely successful as it has allowed the disabled and marginalised communities to undergo entrepreneurship training and become financially independent.
“We have sourced the festive cookies from our Trade [&Give] and R.I.S.E. participants in the different states to help them increase their sales and ensure that they benefit from being included within our supply chain. This is very much in line with our mission of humanising financial services and being at the heart of the communities,” said Nora.
Apart from the Kasih Ramadhan initiative, the group also organised a number of other events such as the MaybankHeart Charity Bazaar at Menara Maybank where 10% of the sales proceeds will be donated to MaybankHeart beneficiaries as well as distribution of bubur lambuk to employees.
