JOHOR BARU: In an effort to assist the less fortunate, 50 underprivileged schoolchildren were treated to a school preparation shopping trip at Tesco Bukit Indah by developer Country Garden Pacificview Bhd (CGPV) recently.
The schoolchildren, all aged 12, were from four schools from the Tanjung Kupang area in Nusajaya.
The schools were SK Tanjong Adang, SK Morni Pok, SK Tanjung Kupang and SK Pendas Laut.
The event, called CGPV Back To School 2014, is the first corporate social responsibility programme by the company.
It also involved volunteers from the company’s Country Garden Volunteers Group.
Guest-of-honour at the event was Nusajaya assemblyman Dr Zaini Abu Bakar.
Also present was CGPV executive director Teo Chee Yow, Country Garden Danga Bay regional assistant director Abdul Latheef Mohamed Sali and also Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) deputy vice-chancellor Prof Dr Othman Ismail.
During the event, which started at 10am, the participants received two sets of school uniforms, two pairs of shoes and stationery sets, while UTM distributed 50 school bags to the participants.
Teo said the initiative is part of the company’s community-based programme that is organised throughout the year.
“The programme is aimed at alleviating the parents’ burden and helping them to prepare their children for the 2015 school year.”
Teo said the organisers wanted to make the event more meaningful by letting the children select their own school items as it would teach them to be responsible in spending within an allocated budget.
Abdul Latheef, in his speech, said the company would like to thank UTM and also Tesco Bukit Indah for their participation.
CGPV is the master developer and creator for the mixed-use development Forest City project.
The company is a joint venture between China-based Country Garden Holdings Ltd and Esplanade Danga 88 Bhd as main shareholders, while state investment agency Kumpulan Prasarana Rakyat Johor is a minor shareholder. By Ben Tan