INTERNATIONAL Nurses Day is celebrated annually on May 12 all around the globe to honour the services of nurses.
This year, nurses from Gleneagles Kuala Lumpur will collaborate with Pit Stop Community Cafe to hand out 120 packets of nasi lemak to the homeless, as part of their Nasi Lemak programme.
The programme aims to encourage Gleneagles staff to give back to the community and be more engaged with the society.
“We want this to be an ongoing project, so we came up with the Nasi Lemak programme in 2015. Under the programme, every purchase of nasi lemak from the cafeteria by our staff, will be matched with a pack of nasi lemak that will be donated to the less fortunate,” said Gleneagles Kuala Lumpur senior manager Samiha Abd Aziz.
She said with every 100 purchases, they will come up with a programme to give back to the society such as distributing nasi lemak to orphanages and the homeless.
The nasi lemak is prepared daily by the hospital’s own chef and is sold at RM5.
Samiha said Gleneagles staff would usually buy nasi lemak as they know that every purchase they make would contribute to another person’s plate.
“We want to encourage our staff to give back to the community, and this programme is a great platform to do so,” she said.
Gleneagles Kuala Lumpur clinical resource nurse (paediatric ward) Thean Chai Wan said nurses were more than happy to help serve society.
“For most of us, that is the reason why we became a nurse, Getting an opportunity to be part of something meaningful such this is an ultimate privilege for us,” said Thean, who has been a nurse for almost 13 years.
Gleneagles Kuala Lumpur assistant nurse manager Usha Moorthy said that it was her first time being involved in such a programme.
“Being a nurse, we must provide services to those in need with sincerity and love.
“This programme really gives us the opportunity not only to help our patients but also to help the community,” said Usha.
Most of the volunteers will rush to Pit Stop to help the homeless as soon as they finish their morning shift duty around 2.30pm. .
Pit Stop Community Cafe in Jalan Tun H.S Lee, Kuala Lumpur, is a platform to enable the public to fight issues such as homelessness, urban poverty and hunger.
“We are closed on Tuesdays, but on other days we provide affordable lunch to raise revenue to sustain the business.
“From 5.30pm, we will feed the homeless and they are allowed to pay any amount they can afford or they can also eat for free,” said cafe founder Joycelyn Lee.
For details, visit www.pitstopcafekl.com
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