KUALA LUMPUR, March 21 – Petronas is expanding its community outreach programme that provides basic assistance to identified hardcore poor, Program Sentuhan Harapan Petronas, to include 5,500 additional underprivileged families across the country.
The programme, first launched in Sarawak in July 2010, has also now expanded its reach to Pahang, where 200 hardcore poor families in the state have been selected as its initial beneficiaries. Petronas Senior General Manager of Group Corporate Affairs Division Datuk Mohammad Medan Abdullah(Pic) in a statement today said that when it was launched in
2010 by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in Miri, the programme was originally aimed to reach out to 5,000 poor families across Malaysia by providing them with monthly food aid of RM80 for two years.
The recipients were also trained in supplementary life skills courses including basic financial literacy, entrepreneurship, sewing and other skills to help recipients gain knowledge and promote learning that would assist them break out from the cycle of poverty, he said.
“Program Sentuhan Harapan Petronas is not just about giving aid, but is also about providing means and opportunities for the underprivileged families to improve their living standards in the long run through specially designed courses and skills training,” he said.
Last year, he said, 3,000 more families were identified and the latest addition of 5,500 families would enable more underprivileged members of the community residing in areas where Petronas operates to receive the aid. He said the programme was benefitting 13,500 underprivileged families across the country.
He said Petronas was working closely with MyKasih Foundation in implementing the programme and all families under the programme were identified by the foundation with the assistance of local non-governmental organisations.
“Recipients will redeem the food aid at selected Petronas retail outlets using their MyKad which is equipped with a specially designed electronic system for an efficient verification and disbursement mechanism to ensure the allocation reaches the intended families,” he said.
BERNAMA
