Educare 2006

Educare was started in 2001 by Venerable B. Saranankara Thero. Its objective was to ease the burden of parents by distributing educational items to students in need. Educare is mainly to lend a helping hand to those in time of misfortune and students whose parents earn minimum wages.

In the beginning of 2001, this program has successfully raise educational items to 800 needy students. By 2005, Educare has provided educational items to over 4000 needy Malaysian students. The programme, which is in its sixth year running, is a joint effort between the Sri Jayanti Association in Sentul and Parkson Grand.

This year, Educare aims to help 5,000 needy students irrespective of race and religion from 74 government schools, 14 Hospitals of Malaysian Children’s Aid Society (MACAS) and 8 orphanages & NGOs throughout Malaysia with educational items from school uniforms to stationery sets.

Deputy Internal Security Minister Datuk Fu Ah Kiow, who launched the programme on Saturday, rightly said that "he believed education was the key to eradicating poverty and it contributed to the economic and social growth of the country. "

You can help by donating educational items at the Educare collection area. They will be providing collection bins in all Parkson stores nationwide (except Parkson Suria KLCC). Your contribution can help these children lead better lives.

In addition, you can also pledge you support by purchasing school items via Parkson Online Mall.

Having gone through the online donation process this morning, I thought it was a tad messy. You can't actually donate cash, but instead you are required to purchase schooling items like uniforms and backs from the store. If you have never registered before, make sure you register first before shopping, otherwise, you'd lose your shopping bag details.

You can make payment via VISA or Mastercard, or alternatively via Maybank2U. What I thought was a tad unfair was that I was still charged shipping fees to my mailing address, even though it's a purchase specifically for donation at the collection centres in Parkson. Its probably an oversight on their part, and I treated it as petrol saved from going to Parkson itself to do the shopping. ;)