community service

The APU School of Foundation (SoF) since 2016 has been a caring supporter of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) Ampang animal shelter. Over the years, SoF has encouraged students to join SPCA’s Pet Care Program - a program which teaches quality pet care skills to volunteers.

Upon graduating from this program, our students diligently volunteer their time at the SPCA, namely taking care of and rehabilitating animals that have been abused and require a lot of comfort and care. Since its launch, more than 400 students have participated and volunteered at SPCA.  

SoF students have regularly volunteered at SPCA events as well with the most recent being the Dogathon marathon at UPM on 24th February 2019. Students managed to complete the 2 km obstacle course and helped SPCA create awareness on their goals among dog lovers who participated in the event.

SoF has been an avid supporter of SPCA’s noble efforts. Last year, our students organised an awareness and fundraising week, while SPCA also came to conduct talks on animal cruelty and spread awareness on how students can help to prevent and report such incidents to the authorities. During the event, RM 3,000 was raised for the SPCA Stray Free Selangor Fund. Over the past 3 years, SoF has also donated more than RM 20,000 in food, treats, leashes, harness and medication. 

Hunger knows no barriers, however, our staff and students are ever-ready to lend a helping hand.

Recently, 45 students and staff participated in Kechara Soup Kitchen’s weekly efforts of food distribution to the needy, under the leadership of Ms. Geetha Rubasundram, lecturer of the School of Accounting, Finance & Quantitative Studies (SAFIQS), Yelena Stepanenko and Abdulrahman Ali Ali Shagea, who were Level 2 students of SAFIQS.

Food packages, groceries, and items of clothing were distributed to the needy at Projek Perumahan Rakyat (PPR) Kota Damansara, in which our students showed their love and care by volunteering to arrange, label and distribute the goods to the families. Prior to this initiative, a representative from Kechara Soup Kitchen, Mr. Justin Cheah conducted a briefing at APU with regards to his experiences as a volunteer with the NGO. A donation drive followed after, in which APU staff and students contributed a total of RM2,050 to the organization.

Language is not a barrier to do good deeds.

Recently, 30 students from APU joint hands with our staff members – Salasiah binti Sulaiman, Vinothini Kasinathan, Atiyah Hadi & Rizawati binti Rohizan to show their love and care towards children from the House of Joy, Limpahan Kasih Charity Home and Baitul Hidayah Welfare Home, who came to visit APU for a fun-filled event – the APU QR Community Game. The children, whose ages were from 6 years old to 14 years old, were mostly orphans.

At the beginning of the event, all APU students were assigned as “foster brothers and sisters” of the children, in which they were required to complete several challenges by exploring the APU Campus @ TPM, and scanning the QR codes to solve the puzzles. Despite the language barriers, age gap and cultural differences, our students managed to give the children a good time as they guided their “little brothers and litter sisters” throughout the game. In one of the groups, our Bhutan student managed to establish a lovely relationship with his 8-year-old brother, who does not understand English. Upon winning the 4th Place, he donated his RM40 book voucher to his “little brother”. All our students played together with the children, shared some hugs and lovely acts that warmed our hearts that day. All children walked away with goodie bags donated by our lecturers, as well as the brightest smiles.

Kudos to the team who organised this event, with the help from Ms. Aida Zamnah, Ms. Geetha Rubasundram and Prof. Dr. Ir. Vinesh Thiruchelvam for making this event a successful one. We look forward to contribute more towards the society, thus we look forward to seeing more events like this being organised in the future.

“We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone”. – Dr. Loretta Scott

A group of students from the APU School of Accounting, Finance and Quantitative Studies (SAFIQS) recently participated in a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Forum titled “CSR – Myth or Reality” on Monday, 18 April 2016.  The forum was part one of the 3-phased CSR project plan initiated by the school. 

At the forum, Mr. Justin Cheah from Kechara Soup Kitchen Society, Mr. Suresh Naidu from Fun Charity and Ms. Julianna Ooi from Selangor & Wilayah Persekutuan Family Reproductive Health Association (FREHA) provided an insight into their experiences as youth volunteers and the various projects carried out by their organisations.  The session also included a briefing on Integrated Reporting by Ms. Geetha Rubasundram, which includes Corporate Social Responsibility as part of the Value Creation process and reporting. 

The forum marked the start of the second phase whereby the students would be raising funds via a donation drive to fund the final phase – a half-day outdoor activity hosted by APU students for a group of orphans from selected orphanages. 

More than 25 School of Foundation (SOF) students from the Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation were involved in an animal welfare and care learning programme at the new, animal friendly, and welcoming surroundings at the SPCA premises in Ampang.  

This is a continuing volunteer programme that began in January 2016 and will continue throughout this year. Organised by SOF, the objective is about giving back to society as well understanding animal behaviour and care. Caring for animals is not something that most of the students are used to. Therefore it was only natural that there was some anxiety followed by enthusiasm and by the time the day was over, the smiles and elation on the faces of the Foundation students said it all. 

Our volunteers first attended a short education programme and then had the opportunity to practice some of the skills learnt like taking the dogs for walks, cleaning up kennels and the surroundings, feeding animals.  

As a gesture of appreciation to the SPCA, Dr Sarvinder Kaur (SOF Head of School), Ms Abhhirami, and Mr Vijay Reddy (Senior Manager, Special Projects) presented pet food well as old newspapers which the SPCA so desperately needs for its use. Students of the SOF deserve to be applauded for contributing to a noble cause. The dedicated and tireless efforts of the staff and volunteers of SPCA must be commended.

About SPCA (www.spca.org.my)
SPCA Selangor is an animal welfare organisation based in Ampang Jaya, Selangor. The aim of the SPCA is to protect defenseless animals and to alleviate their suffering. In addition,  SPCA provides an adoption program, investigation of cruelty reports, humane education, assistance to community animal caregivers and run a dedicated, low-cost spay/ neuter clinic.

On February 27th, 2016, the APU Malay Cultural Society (AMCS) participated in the Pautan Kasih Program, which took place at Kampung Sg Merali, Batu 4, Jalan Gombak, Kuala Lumpur. A total of 100 participants from APU, 76 villagers and 26 committee members of AMCS were involved in this program. The aim of this program was to introduce Malaysian culture to the international students and also to care about the community particularly in the rural area. In addition, the program allowed the students to take a break from their studies while doing something meaningful for the community. 

The JKK of Kampung Sg Merali, YB Dato Abdul Razak Muhammad officiated the event. Various activities were conducted to suit the purpose and objectives of this program, such as community work (gotong-royong), aerobic exercise, balloon splash, finding candy in the flour, human bridge, candy guessing and tug of war (tarik tali). Students and the members of the public enjoyed the session together. All these activities were conducted at the playground in Kampung Sg. Merali under the supervision and guidance of AMCS committee members. 

The event demonstrated a high level of interaction between students and public, and it was held with success under the teamwork and coordination by AMCS. We look forward to see more activities like these in the future, in which our students and staff may bring more joy and happiness to the communities in need.