BREWERY COMES TO AID OF CHINESE SCHOOLS

Petaling Jaya: Chinese schools in the country have been getting a helping hand from Guinness Anchor Bhd (GAB).

Since 1994 to the middle of this year, the company has raised close to RM180 million which benefited 367 Chinese schools and helped 1,300 students through university.

“We see Chinese schools as providing mainstream education, especially since only two per cent Chinese students are enrolled in national schools. And we know the importance the Chinese community places on education,” said GAB finance director Low Teng Lum.

Low said the company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes not only benefited the Chinese community but also over 60,000 non Chinese students who were enrolled in these schools.

So far, GAB had helped to provide better school facilities, including school halls, additional classrooms and computers.

More importantly, it has also helped students obtain a university education, said Low.

Low said the CSR programmes went beyond merely donating money.

“Anyone with money can donate. But to us, it is a means to allow the community, especially the grassroots, to empower themselves, and at the same time, enable our dealers, trade partners and even coffee shop owners to come together for a good cause,” he said.

GAB has two main fundraising projects known as the Tiger Sin Chew Chinese Education Charity Concert and the Guinness Torch Fund.

The charity concert is a yearly event where GAB helps to fund and organise the concert by bringing in local and foreign artistes to perform.

Schools in need of funds can apply to be part of the charity concert and if selected, they will be tasked marketing the concert and selling tickets. The funds are then channelled to respective schools.

The Guinness Torch Fund, meanwhile, is a scholarship fund.

NEWS STRAITS TIMES.
Friday, December 21, 2007.