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Sending Fast Relief to Fire Victims
9 November 2007, Sri Aman: Even in times of crisis, the employees of PPES Works, CMS Roads and CMS Pavement Tech keep a strong commitment to mobilise fast, effective help to the needy in rural areas.
Yesterday PPES Works, CMS Roads and CMS Pavement Tech sent food and provisions yesterday to 24 men, women and children in Sri Aman whose homes were ravaged by a recent fire.
The families lost their houses and everything they owned when the fire broke out at Kampung Hulu Melayu, Sri Aman on 2 October 2007.
“Employees of the 3 companies had initiated a staff collection and reached deep into their own pockets to help the four families affected. We are proud of our staff's community spirit and willingness to help the needy,” said CMS Roads' General Manager, Bilin Dandi.
A brief ceremony was held on 8 Nov 2007 at CMS Roads' office in Sri Aman to hand over the donation comprising RM650 worth of foodstuff such as rice, cooking oil, sugar, canned food, coffee, cordial drinks and more.
Present were CMS Roads' General Manager, Bilin Dandi, Deputy General Manager, Dahlim Mungkil & staff from Sri Aman, Betong and Kuching.
The handover was witnessed by Sri Aman SAO, Encik Zaidi Serkawi, Penghulu, Tn Haji Abdul Samat bin Haji Abdul Rahim and Ketua Kampung, Tn Haji Abdul Latif bin Haji Abdul Rahim.
THE SALVATION ARMY'S BATTALION OF VOLUNTEERS
We are at The Salvation Army Children's Home. Small groups of 9, 10 and 11 year-old boys and girls are seated, clutching stubby pencils and doing revision with their “volunteer tutors.”
In the room, the adult to child ratio is 1:4, and it is still not enough to help the struggling students. Three at a time crowd around their tutors asking for help. Some look confused. Others look restless. The Salvation Army just doesn't have enough tutors to go around.
Today, 9-year-old Bernard is one of the luckier ones. This week, he gets his very own individual tutor and unlimited attention for an hour. “Can you write the word “Apple” correctly for me 10 times, the way I just showed you?” says the tutor, a CMS volunteer. Bernard looks doubtfully at the page in front of him.
His tutor adds, “I'll give you a gold star if you do it nicely” – and the boy pauses. With the tutor's encouragement, he completes the task slowly but well, and gets his prize of a sticker with glee. This is a small breakthrough for him.
As the volunteer will tell you, teaching has its challenges, but it also has its rewards.
THE GUINEA PIGS – Week One
Last Saturday, 20th October, four of those “tutors” came from the employee pool of the CMS Group for the first time. It is now official – CMS Community Outreach has at last put the muscle on its One – to – One Volunteer Tutors programme for The Salvation Army.
Over the next 4 weeks CMS aims to give One-to-One tuition in reading and writing to the underprivileged kids who need adult attention the most. Everyone in the CMS Group is welcome to sign up.
Some of the tutors came with a small arsenal of books, stationery and learning aids from home. “I brought stickers, pencils, stackable pens and exercise books. These (Salvation Army) kids don't have much and most come from broken homes. I personally want to continue this programme until the end with my 2 assigned tutees, Fanny and Bernard,” said CMS Volunteer Wendy Yong.
CMS Volunteer Eda Ahmad sums the situation up. “I was assigned an 8-year-old boy and he ended up reading six books at the library with me. It was a very rewarding experience. There are not enough tutors / helpers and this Reading Programme is an easy thing for us to do. If done continuously, it will really go a long, long way for the children. We really need to get more of our colleagues on board to spend that one or two hours a weekend at the Salvation Army.”
Construction & Road Maintenance Unit
Teaming Up for Healthy Hearts
Kuching, Friday, 26 October 2007: The Sarawak Heart Foundation borrowed some muscles from the Cahya Mata Sarawak Group to promote heart-friendly behaviour for the Walk-A-Mile campaign.
In the spirit of promoting good health through good lifestyles, the SHF invited the public and organisations to celebrate World Heart Day 2007 by taking part in a mile-long walk.
PPES Works, CMS Roads and CMS Pavement Tech comprised the largest group of volunteers. 36 staff (plus family) did the mile-long walk from 6am, Sunday 21st October 2007 at the State Library in Petra Jaya.
“The day really drove home the message to the public to stay active! We are pleased that the Construction & Road Maintenance Unit staff made up the largest contingent on the day,” said Shirly Ann Clarke, of PPES Works.
A representative from SHF representative said that the objective of the event was to spread the word that active lifestyles prevent heart disease – and to as many people as possible.
After fortifying themselves with a “hearty” breakfast – health food only – volunteers stayed for demonstrations of Tai chi and line dancing.
SHF Chairperson, YABhg Datuk Amar Puan Sri Laila Taib officiated at the event and advised the public to practice healthy eating habits and exercise more to avoid heart diseases.
Doing Good for the Community: Adopt a Kampung
With their CMS Community Outreach goals firmly in mind, PPES Works, CMS Roads and CMS Pavement Tech are truly “walking the walk” of employee volunteerism and using teamwork to turn their pledge to help rural communities into reality in 2007.
Collectively, the team at the Works group have identified worthy causes and means to help. Forming committees; raised funds, and donated money – several times over - to their adopted cause, Kampung Sinar Baru, in Padawan. The Kampung is home to the families of recovered leprosy.
In “ Doing Good for the Community ,” PPES Works made a comprehensive study of the critical needs of the Kampung and developed an action plan to help the community. For Kampung Sinar Baru and other rural communities, many more future events are in store.
The Construction & Road Maintenance Strategic Business Unit (SBU) is comprised of PPES Works ( Sarawak ) Sdn Bhd, CMS Roads Sdn Bhd and CMS Pavement Tech Sdn Bhd.
CMS Roads Saratok Does Beach Clean-Up
27 September 2007, KABONG: Earlier this month, CMS Roads engaged 48 fired-up staff from Saratok and Sri Aman to brighten up the environment in yet another CMS Community Outreach activity.
On Sunday 9th September 2007, the staff from CMS Roads held a massive clean-up that lasted the whole day for Tg. Kembang Beach, situated in Kabong, 53 km from the town of Saratok.
The mix of employee volunteers who came to help ranged from executives, senior managers, administrative staff, drivers and operations crew - all ready to clock up extra miles on their CSR gauges.
They collected and disposed of more than 30 bags of rubbish and cleared the surrounding compound of debris and waste material.
While the monetary investment was limited to the price of petrol and a tiny RM22.50 for the polythene bags, the Saratok and Sri Aman Road Maintenance Units investment in time and labour amounted to hundreds of hours.
They are to be commended for spending their own free time on a Sunday to “Do Good“ for the local community!
Doing Good in Saratok with CMS Roads
24 August 2007, SARATOK: The community-conscious CMS Roads crew from Saratok, Sri Aman and Betong spent a whopping 261 voluntary manpower hours to “Do Good” for the Kaki Wong Community Hall in Saratok on Saturday, 18 August 2007.
The 29 employee volunteers from CMS' Construction & Road Maintenance SBU painted walls and furniture, and helped build a new building for toilet facilities, as well as tar-seal the access road to the community hall.
In a job that took from dawn to sundown, CMS Roads staff put on the finishing touches to what rural residents from six neighbouring longhouses had started earlier in the year.
Volunteers from CMS Roads have made the Construction & Road Maintenance SBU one of the top 3 active performers in Cahya Mata Sarawak's employee volunteerism scheme, CMS Community Outreach .
Works Team Gives Kampung Sinar Baru a Face-Lift and Clean-Up Saturday, 18 August 2007 , Kuching – It might have been the start of the school holidays, but employee volunteers from PPES Works, CMS Roads and CMS Pavement Tech put family obligations aside for awhile, preferring instead to focus their Saturday morning to “Do Good” at the ex-leprosy resettlement village, Kampung Sinar Baru, located some 14 km from Kuching city.
Starting from 8am into early afternoon, over 200 employees under CMS' Construction & Road Maintenance SBU joined forces with village folk to clean up Kampung Sinar Baru and give it a face-lift. According to Ketua Kampung, Puan Selia, it was the first village clean-up to be organized in 20 years!
The early morning sight was truly amazing – one dozen CMS trucks and numerous vehicles parked alongside the main road into the kampung, hundreds of employees everywhere wearing CMS uniforms or t-shirts and caps with the distinctive CMS logo and armed with grass-cutting equipment, “parang”, sickles and bin bags, and lots of “Doing Good”, CMS Community Outreach spirit.
After a warm-up of Pocho-pocho dance, each team sped off to their designated zones to clean-up and help with repairs to broken culverts and blocked drains. Everyone had a part to play. Even those not involved in the clean up were responsible for feeding hungry and thirsty team members.
The clean-up or “Gotong-Royong” at Kampung Sinar Baru is part of a series of activities by the Construction & Road Maintenance SBU under its kampung-adoption programme.
Kampung Sinar Baru was presented with a new signage to replace its previous dilapidated wooden sign. PPES Works Executive Director, Robert Gardner, put on the finishing touches to the new sign featuring yellow rays of sun or “cahya” with the Ketua Kampung, Puan Selia, and Padawan Member of Parliament for Stampin, Datuk Yong Khoon Seng.
CMS ROADS PERFORM GOTONG ROYONG AT KMPG DANAU
17 July 2007, BEKENU: In a bid to help a kampung get ready for a special day which would thrust it into the national spotlight, CMS Roads rallied 21 staff volunteers to perform a gotong royong at Kampung Danau last month on Saturday, 16 June 2007.
CMS Roads staff were led by Deputy General Manager Dahlim Mungkil in a mass clearing and cleaning of Surau Darul Mukminin compound, along with a number of Kampung Committee members.
What was the reason for all the attention? Kampung Danau was the venue of choice for the “Bicara Tokoh” National level activities which were held a week later on 24 June 2007 and attended by Datuk Awang Tengah and Minister of Information Datuk Seri Zainnudin Maiden.
Kampung Danau is the latest of several rural communities this year where CMS Roads’ staff - under the company’s increasingly popular corporate social responsibility (CSR) Employee Volunteerism programme - have chosen to lend their hands and hearts. It will certainly not be the last!
Kampung Danau was the winner of the best Kampung award (K3P) in 2004. Founded in 1940 by Haji Lamat Bin Ahad and his associates, the kampung is located 60km from Miri and 8km from Bekenu. The majority of the dwellers are Kedayan.
MUKAH COAL FIRED STATION PROJECT TEAM DO GOTONG ROYONG
20 June 2007, MUKAH: Thirteen site staff at Mukah Coal Fired Station project, led by Project Manager, Wong See Hing participated in a gotong-royong at Rumah Aji, Jalan Mukah-Balingian, Mukah on 26 and 27 May 2007.
That weekend, the team helped the longhouse residents get their homes ready for the Gawai celebration and in doing so, staff had a good time giving back to the community.
The longhouse was treated to a fresh lick of paint, while staff also removed debris, tidied up the surrounding area, and did minor repair works such as fixing leaks and patching up holes.
CMS ROADS DO GOTONG ROYONG AT OLD RESIDENT OFFICE IN LIMBANG
9 June, 2007, LIMBANG: CMS Roads, Limbang Road Maintenance Unit staff cleaned up the Old Resident Office Building at Limbang in record time on 17 May 2007 making the place look spic and span for the first time in 18 months.
Five staff pitched in to get everything in order via tasks such as grass cutting, tree pruning and planting, general cleaning and rubbish clearing.
Regional Manager for RMU Northern Region, Encik Ahmad Selihin said CMS Roads would repeat the Gotong Royong at more regular intervals compared to past efforts as the activity generated great staff rapport.
“It’s an opportunity to help staff at senior and lower levels bond, when you work together for a common cause. Plus its good healthy exercise,” he said.
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