KUCHING: The Rotary Club of Kuching Central (RCKC) recently collaborated with Uniqlo for the Clothes of Love distribution at Dewan Suarah Bau. Approximately 280 beneficiaries came and waited for their turn to ‘shop’ or select the donated clothing items of their choice. Each beneficiary also received a food parcel donated by Khong Guan.
Store Manager of Uniqlo at Vivacity Megamall Kuching, Erdnest Shim said that though it was a global initiative of Uniqlo, it was the first time such initiative was done in Kuching ever since the first store opened in Kuching.
“Each Uniqlo store has a designated box for people to drop off their donations of clothing or accessories. We will then check each item to ensure that it is in good condition and sort the donations according to gender and sizes. We collected over 2000 clothing items over the last two years for today’s distribution so the beneficiaries can choose more items today,” he revealed.
President of the Rotary Club of Kuching Central, Benjamin Lo disclosed that the club has carried out several distribution projects for food and other items, but never on clothes.
“It is quite a different experience and I think the beneficiaries enjoy being able to choose what they want. It makes it more rewarding to see their smiles of happiness when they find an item of their liking. We have enjoyed working together with Uniqlo and hope to collaborate on additional future
projects. We always welcome corporate sponsors or other clubs to assist us to do even more projects for the community,” he said.
The Organising Chairperson of this project, Andrea Chan explained, “For this project, we worked together with Bau Charity Group which is a newly formed voluntary group by the residents of the Bau area to help those in need.”
“They collaborated with the District office to identify the beneficiaries and informed each of them to come for today’s event,” she added. The Rotary Club of Kuching Central has been carrying out many community projects, particularly their signature projects of providing cataract remedies or operations free of charge to patients, implementing solar or clean water systems, and more.
All of these signature projects are for the lower income group or those in rural areas of Sarawak. Currently, the club is organising the Rotary Charity Run 2018 – Gift of Sight to raise funds for prevention of blindness activities such as the aforementioned free cataract operations, free eye screenings, and more.
Interested participants can register for the run online at www.kuchingcentralrotary.org/rotaryrun2018. Individuals and organisations interested in collaborating with the Rotary Club of Kuching Central in any of their projects may contact the club through their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/kuchingcentral.
