Petaling Jaya, 6 December 2021 – In conjunction with Roche’s annual corporate social responsibility event, Roche Children’s Walk, Roche in Malaysia successfully raised RM45,800 for two underprivileged children’s homes, Rumah Kanak-Kanak Triniti also known as Trinity Children’s Home, and Shelter Home, sanctuaries for orphaned, abandoned, battered, abused and neglected children. This fund-raising initiative, powered by more than 1,000 Roche employees from the pharmaceutical, diagnostics and the services and solutions division, raised funds to help improve the lives of these underprivileged children.
Roche Children’s Walk is the company’s signature worldwide employee project. Since the first company walk in 2003, more than 248,000 Roche employees, worldwide, have raised over CHF 20 million (around at RM89.5 million) in donations for children’s projects around the world. In 2020 itself, 18,000 employees across 154 sites in 63 countries participated in the Walk. Similar to 2020, most of the 2021 fund-raising activities were organized virtually and offered creative activities, such as movie night, talk shows, fun-to-fund fair, virtual Melaka Zoo tour, game nights, as well as the sale of reusable face masks prepared for the participants.
“In 2020, we transformed our traditional walk to a wide range of virtual activities, and although the pandemic was still in our midst, we are pleased that we did it again this year – It is simply heartwarming to see our employees actively sharing their love in the form of charity. Our Roche Children’s Walk is not only an important and meaningful day in the Roche calendar, but it is also a date that reminds each and every one of us that we can have an impact in improving other people’s lives. We are beyond happy to have our employees around the globe coming together for a good cause to help the underprivileged children, we hope to continue this tradition in the coming years”, said Deepti Saraf, General Manager of Roche (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd.
Deepti also added, “The two homes, Rumah Kanak-Kanak Triniti and Shelter Home will be receiving RM22,900 each, and we believe these funds will benefit the children, as this initiative will also ensure that these homes have the financial support they need so the children can thrive. These children need a lot of support, care and attention from the community to have a better future, thus, we will continue our support for the underprivileged children by devoting ourselves to the Roche Children’s Walk.”
“We are very grateful for the partnership with Roche which has helped us raise funds for the children, especially during times of Covid-19, when the imposition of MCO affected our ability to carry out our various annual fund-raising activities. The contribution from the Roche team in Malaysia will be helpful in meeting the needs of running the home – from providing the children with nutritious meals, medicines, tuition, visits to hospitals amongst others. It is heartwarming to see that with the current challenging times for businesses, companies like Roche still support underprivileged communities with their generosity,” said Jerry Choo, the Public Relations Executive at Shelter Home.
“We can find no words to express our heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to Roche for their generous contribution to our home. On top of raising funds for us, we were so blessed that they also purchased online tickets for the children to virtually explore the Melaka Zoo as well as to virtually experience a movie night together with Roche employees. This was such a unique experience for the children and was certainly enjoyable for them. Despite the challenges we all faced during the Covid-19 pandemic, when the children could not venture the outside world, these experiences created some indoor quality time for the children. A big thank you to Roche,” said Mary Moses, Trinity Children’s Home’s Administrator.
Both Rumah Kanak-Kanak Triniti and Shelter Home are halfway homes for orphaned, abandoned, battered, abused and neglected children and aim to provide shelter, care and the hope of a new life for young children and those in their early teens. Just like any children, they need a lot of encouragement, motivation and positive thinking in order to build their self-confidence and self-esteem. The homes also help the children, who are shunned by society, to get back into the community, and lead normal lives. The needs of the children’s daily medicines and vitamins are also accounted for, ensuring that they have adequate amounts of nutrients to bolster their immune system.
The funds raised in Malaysia will be matched by the company for the global initiatives through the Roche Employee Action and Charity Trust (Re&Act), a legally independent charity. Re&Act partners with a variety of organisations, such as UNICEF and ActionAid Malawi, to support children’s education and health programmes in developing countries. Common initiatives supported by Roche Children’s Walk include education, nutrition, primary healthcare and social development programs.
