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.

Start Imagining ...

Things get clearer when we approach our goal. In this blog I am pleased to reveal how our new centre will look like as shown in the perspective drawings here. The 4th picture show the real building we bought and how we are assigning our project spaces. At the moment everything are crammed into the ground floor of the existing centre. When the new centre is done up, hopefully before the end of the year (if funding permits) we will assign the spaces as follows:

Existing Centre - Ground Floor Only
Bakery Project
Project Office/Teaching Room

New Centre - Ground Floor
Straw Packing Project
Card Making Project
Project Office

New Centre - First Floor
Admin Office
Conference Room
Teaching/Counseling Rooms (2)

A connecting door will be opened between the 2 centres to facilitate movement. Once the new centre is ready we will recruit additional staff and more volunteers. Then we will start accepting more learning disabled candidates into our centres to be trained in any or more of the 3 projects. Eventually we will have space for 45 trainees. But what we look forward to is that there will be some turnover of these trainees into the open job markets. Although we have sent 6 of them out 2 years ago we wish to see more employers in Seremban creating jobs for our trained trainees.

Every year some kids will be diagnosed to have some learning disabilities. These kids will need to undergo special education. Then when they reach the age of 18 and they have basic survival skills then we are ready to take them in to job train them. Not all learning disabled people can find jobs outside, their disabilities may be too severe to warrant any caring employer to employ them. We will try to provide in-house jobs and help them earn an income.

What we are getting at is that growing demands additional financing. In this connection our first major fund raiser this year is the PBSNS Charity Golf Tournament which I posted awhile back. There are many areas you can help in this endeavour. Here is a partial list:

1. Play golf at the tournament. Part of your fee (RM500) will go toward the PBSNS Building Fund to repair/renovate and equip the new centre.

2. Advertise in the souvenir programme for the golf tournament. RM300 gets you a full colored page publicity.

3. Free donation of any sum towards our Partnership Fund which is to cover our operating expenses. With 2 centres we estimate our annual budget to rise to RM100,000.

4. You can also donate equipment to the new centre. Details below.

We need 10 units of air-conditioners of various horsepowers. Price per unit range from RM1000 to RM1600.

We also need 20 units of ceiling fans, an overhead LCD projector, a notebook/laptop, a DVD player, a 32" LCD TV (for teaching/training), PA system, laser printer, photo copier, refrigerator, microwave oven, office desks, safe, filing cabinets, lounge settee, white boards, time recorder, etc, etc.

The total cost of buying all of these equipment will be beyond our head but individual donations, either by taking up the actual bill or giving a fixed amount to defray their purchase costs, will help a long way.

5. If you are a reader from overseas we encourage you to donate via our PayPal account link in this blog. Otherwise you can pay direct to our account below:

Account No. 3149145906
Account Name: Persatuan Berdikari Seremban Negeri Sembilan
Bank: Public Bank, Jalan Rasah Branch
Routing Code: PBBEMYKL

6. For greater peace of mind we are looking for corporate sponsors to commit their annual support towards our cause. If you can help please let us know.

Contact us for any of the above enquiries with email to:

pbssbn@gmail.com and state 'PBSNS Building Fund' in the subject line.

Thank you.

Charting Our Future

Yesterday, the management committee with its advisors held the first of four meetings scheduled for this year. We were pleased with the smooth transition from PBS to PBSNS and the enlarged partnership support base. Although all financial supports are not yet in, we are not worried as it is still early in the year and by faith we believe our pleas will be heard, notwithstanding the current dampened economic climate.

We are like a learner driver being released from a country road into a highway, into uncharted waters. Ordinarily we should be apprehensive but we had none of that emotion. Rather we all felt elated at the vast opportunities and challenges before us. Yes, we have to work hard but we also realise the rewards and satisfaction are great. In a true sense, all of us are pioneering the future of PBSNS and we pray that God will helm every meeting, guide every decision, plan every step and provide every need. I suppose this has been our source of comfort, our faith in God that He will provide every need we ask. As what Pastor Paul Christie, our spiritual advisor shared in his sermon yesterday, we need to have the faith like Abraham to trust God that He will provide all the resources - financial, people, knowledge and leadership, to take PBSNS from one level to the next.

Partnership: Our appeals have begun to bear fruits. Individuals and churches have started donating to our work, so far more than RM10,000 have been received. We expect more in the pipeline.

Staffing: We have peaked in our enrolment. We are trying to create more rooms to take beyond 25 to even 30, but stretching the limit means our staff's ability to run the centre will be similarly stretched. Soon we will be seeking a committed, dedicated, passionate, patient, loving and caring new staff to join our fantastic team of 2 staff and 20 volunteers. The new staff must be a team player with excellent socialising and communication skills. We were also challenged to start looking for a Trainer to oversee every aspect of our training as well as to eventually offering training to new centres being set up.

Expansion: We need more room to grow and it is unhealthy to cram too many people and too much activities into the same space. I believe God will answer our prayer for the new space we need.

Sponsorship: This and the coming years will be ones we will introduce our work to new sponsors. We never believe that recession will cut social responsibility out of many good corporations and foundations. We believe charity work is recession proof, although some donors will give less as a natural reaction.

Membership: We are also seeking new members to join us, Christian adults in Seremban who share the same desire to help the learning disabled, to give time, talents and connections to grow our work.

We are grateful to Pastor Paul and our advisor Neil for suggesting ways to help raise new funds for PBSNS. We have to reach out (to new sponsors, new trainees, new members, new leaders) and reach up (for God's grace and mercy in His ministry).

My Thoughts on the Initial Years of Persatuan

Yesterday I spent some time jotting down what I believe to be key issues Persatuan need to address in the initial years of its formation. As chairman it is my responsibility to plan for the development and growth of the Persatuan. Infants need breast milk or infant formula to build up strong bones, healthy bodies and brains to prepare for their childhood. Likewise we need to be similarly provided to grow up strong.

I've identified the following key areas to develop in the next 2-3 years:

• Financial Resource - We need to build our Partnership Programme, Corporate Sponsorships and Donations from Welfare Foundations to be financially adequate to meet our expected growth.
• Capacity Building - Our centre is fully subscribed. We need new space to grow.
• Human Resource - With growth comes the need to recruit more staff and volunteers.
• Publicity & Awareness - New brochure, updated website and blog and newsletters to keep our supporters and visitors informed.
• Social Networking - Create bases for parents and trainees to interact, share and encourage.
• Skills Training - Improve on the quality of skills we possess and impart to the trainees.

There is much work ahead of us and many people are needed to help bring them to fruition. We need people to offer their skills connected to the above key areas to take Persatuan to the next level. Presently the available resources within the committee, Persatuan membership, trainers and volunteers are not enough to achieve them. More help are needed.

Proposal to Buy Church Building

Yesterday, at the local church executive committee meeting, I raised the proposal agreed by the PBSNS committee at its 27th September meeting, to buy over the church building that we are now renting so that the work of training the learning disabled may be expanded to include the first floor that is now used by the church as its administration office. We need the additional space to both improve on the training modules as well as accept more trainees on our waiting list.

Should the church agree to sell we will have to embark on fund raising projects after getting approval from the relevant authorities. It is my belief that the timing of this proposed purchase will help both PBSNS and the church in its growth. Do pray that God's will for us will be carried out smoothly.