AGAINST the backdrop of the movement control order (MCO), British American Tobacco Malaysia Bhd organised a meaningful Hari Raya celebration among its staff and the underprivileged community.
Themed ‘CHEER-RIA RAYA’, BAT Malaysia collaborated with three charity organisations based in the Klang Valley, namely Dapur Rakyat, Ibupreneur and Komuniti Tukang Jahit to support their causes.
“Placing sustainability front and centre is integral to BAT Malaysia’s corporate purpose of A Better Tomorrow,” said BAT Malaysia’s managing director Jonathan Reed.
“Beyond reducing the health impact of our business, we want to create positive impact among our employees and within the community.
According to Reed, BAT Malaysia ensured that the less fortunate within its community were able to celebrate Hari Raya.
“We did this by leveraging their skills and expertise to support our employees at work and contribute artisanal Raya goodies that everyone could enjoy,” Reed added.
Through this initiative, Dapur Rakyat was able to serve a 700-meal lunch delivery service to staff at BAT Malaysia’s head office.
Dapur Rakyat is a collaboration between Yayasan Wanita Malaysia and Hope Kitchen Malaysia which enables single mothers, B40 families and the physically disabled an opportunity to sell hearty, homemade meals to Malaysians.
In addition, BAT Malaysia also collaborated with Ibupreneur and Komuniti Tukang Jahit to curate 500 Cheer-Ria Raya-themed gift boxes which were distributed to its employees.
These boxes were filled with more than 10,000 traditional Raya cookies, 1,000 pieces of handsewn Dompet Raya and specially designed name card holders made from locally sourced batik.
Ibupreneur is a social enterprise that teaches financially-dependent mothers how to run home-baking businesses, while Komuniti Tukang Jahit is a platform that provides certified training in sewing to B40 women.
“Cheer-Ria Raya is just one of many initiatives from BAT Malaysia to drive positive social impact for our team and for the community in which we operate,” Reed concluded. – July 1, 2021
