Mall funds community libraries

Mid Valley Megamall with the help of its partners donated RM137,000 to establish 10 community libraries to help make learning English more fun for the underprivileged.

The mall worked with Science of Life Studies (SOLS 24/7) — an international NGO that provides holistic education programmes to poor communities in South-East Asia.

Mid Valley’s design director Ko Chai Huat said they decided to realise their corporate social responsibility project via SOLS 24/7 this time.

“This is different from anything we have ever done and we love the empowerment aspect. Setting up the libraries is a long-term project that will benefit so many people,” he said.

The money came from various projects including the Charity Santa Meet and Greet, “Give a Book of Knowledge” as well as the Mastercard Purchase with Purpose, Charity Carousel and Christmas Token Collections last year.

“We usually give the money collected to an orphanage or an old folk’s home but this year we decided to do something different,” he added.

The idea of collaborating with SOLS 24/7 was suggested to him at a Magicbird Publishing initiative during the Christmas celebrations.

The publisher set up a booth for their One for One book project at Mid Valley where a book was donated for each one purchased.

Magicbird Publishing managing director Quek Sue Yian said she felt the project was a great collaboration for both Mid Valley and SOLS 24/7.

“We decided to set a budget of RM10,000 for each library to buy books, shelves and bean bags to make the environment more cosy,” she said.

SOLS 24/7 communications and human resources director Danutcha Catriona said their aim was to instil the joy of reading in children.

“This is why we decided to set up a library for the poor so that everybody could utilise it without paying a fee,” Danutcha added.

She said they purchased a wide variety of books to cater to everyone including the family members of students at its centres.

SOLS 24/7 has 30 centres in Malaysia where volunteers from all over the world teach English in a revolutionary manner so that students are able to speak English within three to six months.

They are planning to set up 20 more centres this year and are targetting 100 by 2015.