Coffee for a caring cause

FANCY hosting a coffee morning for a good cause? A Malaysian version of UK-based Macmillan Cancer Support’s fundraising event "The Biggest Coffee Morning" took place at the Lower Palm Square of Jaya One on Friday. Known as the Malaysian Biggest Breakfast, it was first held last year and managed to raise RM250,000 for the National Stroke Association of Malaysia – something the association is hoping to replicate.

"The event took place in shopping mall-based F&B outlets, homes and offices last year," association manager Shen Chan said. "The idea was that anyone can arrange a ‘Malaysia’s Biggest Breakfast’ event ... they just need to get in touch with us."The latest event, from 8am to noon, was sponsored by Nestle, and a week’s leafleting produced a steady trickle of employees from adjacent shops and offices at Jaya One.

"You can purchase a RM10 voucher which lets you choose from a selection of sponsored cereals, fruit, porridge and drinks, and all the money raised will go towards the operating costs of our eight recovery centres which are there to rehabilitate stroke survivors," Chan said.

"You can donate more if you choose – RM40 to get a Nestle goody bag," she added, while signing a tax exemption receipt for a smartly-dressed executive who had just arrived to collect his.

Two women sat down to a steaming container of Maggi Chicken Porridge sprinkled with an array of condiments, a cup of Nestum Fruits and a Milo each.

"We work at the offices across from here; I think it’s a good idea, I tried to get some clients to come along to contribute but it was too late a notice for them," Kim Yae, 56, said.

Chan hopes the idea will catch on. Macmillan’s Biggest Coffee Morning, which started in 1991, has been steadily getting bigger with 43,000 people registering to hold a coffee morning last year.

"We have had colleges like Inti College and UKM registering to host Malaysia’s Biggest Breakfast and they should be putting the events on in the next few weeks," she said.

Chan said the original aim was to raise RM1 million, which she conceded was ambitious, and expects something more like RM250,000 this year.

"We targeted the fundraising period for between now and Oct 24, but anyone interested in helping to host an event can contact us – we are flexible with the times."

She said anyone from offices to housewives and schools are welcome to host the event and that every effort would be a great help.

"The recovery centre operating costs can be up to RM1.8 million a year, and we derive all our funding from public funding and charity efforts," she said.