The Year of PBSNS

At the risk of sounding pompous, I believe in all honesty that we have not done as much in our 12 years history as we did over the past 12 months. Allow me to summarize the events.

December 2009 - we signed the sales and purchase agreement to buy our own building which is by no coincidence next door to the existing centre.

May 2010 - a charity golf tournament was organised to raise funds for repairing and renovating the building bought. We raised over RM86,000.

September 2010 - the new centre was completed and dedicated.

November 2010 - the Inner Wheel Club of Kuala Lumpur sponsored the purchase of bakery and cafe equipment and furniture costing over RM23,000. On 22nd November a bus load of ladies paid us a visit. Here are some pictures celebrating the moment.













A week later, on 29th November, representatives from Samsung Electronics Display in Tuanku Jaafar Industrial Park, Seremban, donated 2 plasma television sets of 42" and 50" sizes as part of their Care and Share Community Project. Here are some pictures of the event.















December 2010 - Finally, the event the fund raising taskforce worked hard to cap the year - the Fund Raising Dinner at the newly opened Silver Dragon Restaurant in Seremban 2. Held on 12th December, we succeeded in attracting 58 tables and several donors who were unable to come. Our guest of honour was Dato' Siow Chen Pin, State Exco member and on hand to entertain us was veteran Elvis Presley impersonator, HT Long. The event succeeded in raising over RM50,000 which included a contribution of RM5,000 from Dato' Siow and several guests who donated cash or made pledges at the dinner itself. It was a testimony that the dinner has indeed been a 'life changing experience' for many of those present.

Here are a sample of pictures taken at this auspicious event.

Chedang Cafe

It was a truly exciting moment yesterday when we unofficially 'launched' our latest pet project, the Chedang Cafe. The Chedang Cafe is no ordinary cafe. While it may resemble any other cafe that serves food and drinks, the difference is that the service providers are learning disabled trainees who are given the opportunity to learn and apply the knowledge of serving, greeting and collecting cash. Volunteers will help them gain experience and confidence as well as develop a routine comfortable to each trainee.

The Chedang Cafe has materialised because we have available space to develop it. This came about when the straw packing and card making projects moved over to the new centre next door thus giving the entire space in the first centre to the bakery and cafe project.

We hope that you will be our customers if you are in the vicinity. The trainees will surely love to serve you. Here are some pictures for your viewing.

Early Intervention Help Restore Self Esteem

Below I've captured some encouraging advice for parents of children with learning disabilities. You can read the whole article HERE.

“Learning disability is confirmed if a child scores high on the IQ test but does badly in the achievement test,” says Dr Ting. It is well documented that some of the high-achieving personalities such as Albert Einstein and Sir Richard Branson have suffered from some form of learning disability such as dyslexia.

“Parents must understand that most children with learning disabilities have the cognitive ability to learn,” explains Dr Ting. Given the right remedial programme, she said children with learning disabilities stand the chance of being on-par with the rest of their classmates.

“As the reading skill is a pre-requisite for students to learn many subjects in school , it is imperative that an early intervention programme is administered on those who are found to have dyslexia,” she reiterates.

She also recommends that children with learning disability undergo psychotherapy as some of them may suffer from damaged self-esteem.

Dedicated to Serve

Today is an auspicious day for us, a sort of double celebration. Today will be remembered as the day members of Wesley Methodist Church Seremban celebrates their church's 95th anniversary. And to many who are connected with our work, including her sponsors as well as the many who pray that our good work will continue to restore lives and help bring positives changes to those we care for, they together with us celebrate the dedication of the new building that has become our new training centre. As of September 21 when we moved the straw packing and card making works over we have been busy making it presentable for today's big moment.

To honour us with the prayer of dedicating the building to the work of providing job skills training to the learning disabled is the President of the Trinity Annual Conference, The Methodist Church in Malaysia, Rev. Dr. Ong Hwai Teik. Present to witness this historic event at 10.30am today were some 54 church members, staff, volunteers and well-wishers of PBSNS. The meeting room was used for the very first time and was 'warmed' by 42 guests. Another 12 had to sit outside to listen to the message by the President who at the end electronically unveiled the plaque which will be made later and installed prominently on one of the walls. A group photo was taken outside both buildings where we now operate to commemorate the occasion.

For those who miss it here are a collection of memorable pictures for you to see.