AS a mother of a toddler, Subang Jaya assemblyman Michelle Ng can understand how bored the 140 child victims of the Putra Heights gas pipeline blast would be while being housed at the temporary relief centres.
“When I visited the temporary relief centre, a few mothers told me that they were trying hard to entertain their children with what little they had.
“There was a child with a bubble wand as her only toy.
“As I walked past another row of tents, I saw a girl playing with magnets.
“After so much devastation, there is a real need to bring some joy to these families. Toys are necessary,” she said.
Ng then got some non-governmental organisations and volunteers to collect toys and within days they gathered enough toys, which were properly sanitised before bringing them to the relief centre at Masjid Putra Heights.
The toy library was the first of its kind at a disaster relief centre, said Seri Serdang assemblyman Abbas Salimmi Che Adzmi@Azmi, who represented Ng.
“More toys will be made available soon at the relief centre.
“Once the centre is closed, the toys will be handed to the Welfare Department to be used at other disaster relief centres.”
Other organisations are also stepping up to help.
Kiwanis Club USJ presented RM3,000 for the children’s toy library, while Universal Therapeutics chief executive officer Datuk Seri Samuel Chai said the company contributed RM5,000.
“We have been actively helping out during times of need, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, when we distributed free test kits.
“This time around, we decided to donate money for the toy library,” said Chai.
