Spread the Love - Free Breakfast!

Spread the Love team is back!!

After we got 'disconnected' for so long, the Spread the Love crew is back spreading happiness and kindness at the unexpected times and place in our community. Yeay! All thanks to Shiefa, a.k.a. The Chief who re-activate the team through a new WhatsApp group - now we have more friends getting on board =)

I like to think that we're like Care Bears!

This time around, we go on with our project based on our 'Impian' or wish. All of us were to share our wish to bring happiness to the subject matter which is close to our hearts  and the rest of the team will help out in what ever possible ways that we could think of in order to make the wish comes true - one at a time. We are hoping that through this random act of kindness, they know that someone cares about them. Everybody needs a little love, right? =)

About my wish...
For the past couple of months, I had been frequenting the hospitals - public hospitals to be exact, where so people coming there everyday. With the stream of people coming there everyday, the waiting time could be very long. From our experience, for the popular crowded clinic, it took about 3-4 hours in total to finally see the doctor from the moment you register. Therefore, some folks would come even before dawn, in order to get to see the doctor early.

The eye-opening moment for me was when we went to Hospital Selayang for MH's eye appointment and we saw this very looong queue at 6.30 a.m while the registration will only took place and hour later! The majority of those lining up were the senior citizens and they got to the hospital I think as early as 6 in the morning! In one of my brief conversations with an Uncle in his late 70-s, he told me that most of the patients come from out side Klang Valley. While some will choose to stay in the hotels or with relatives prior to their doctors' appointments, they were some who choose to travel very early in the morning because they could not afford to fork extra money for accommodation.

It's 6.30 a.m. and look at the queue!

Therefore, my wish for STL is to give away Free Breakfast for those outpatients who are waiting in line. Well, not really breakfast in term of heavy meal, but just a little something for them to start the day. I am so grateful that my wish got to be selected for the inaugural lof STL activity in 2016 =)

As all of us have different things going on in our own life at that moment, we did most of our communication through WhatsApp. We decided to give away a small care pack consisted of a bun, a small chocolate cake  and mineral water to the outpatients and staff of Hospital Kajang. 

Why buns? Because we wanted something that they could eat right away, without hassle. Why Hospital Kajang? Because of it's proximity to our base, Putrajaya =) and also because the demographic of the patients going there - they came from different races and all walks of life.

The cute call for contribution!

Once we had decided on the items to giveaway, the date and the venue, we continued with the preparation. Shiefa started to blast off the invitations to contribute and managing the contributions, Tisha made the arrangement for the buns, goodie bags and got us the space to pack, while I communicated with the hospital administration to get their approval. I wrote them an official e-mail about our request, and I found that it was kinda tricky on how to introduce ourselves. You see, we are not a NGO nor do we belong to any association, We are just a bunch of people with common interest - to spread more love to the people out there. =) The hospital administration was very helpful and we got the approval in no time!

Alhamdulillah, with all the help that we managed to get withing the short period of time, the team managed to get everything done - buying the stuff, packing etc within 4 days - despite of our crazy working, class and personal schedule! 

18 March 2016, Friday: The Day...
On Friday morning, we gathered at Hospital Kajang and met with the person in charge from the hospital, Matron Norpiah - who was very helpful and cheerful! She brought us around the hospital to distribute the care packs. As we got to be mobile, we put the goodies in big IKEA bags and went around the hospital looking like female version of Santa Claus =)

Santa in Blue!

The surprised look was priceless!

We were so thrilled with the responses that we got both from the patients and hospital staff. Most of them were surprised upon receiving the pack - it was random and unexpected. Some were quite hesitant at first, as they thought that they need to pay for it. Some thought it was a special day - like someone's birthday etc. Some thought that we were directed to do so. So, when we explained to them that we do not belong to any formal organization, and we did that just because we wanted to do it, they were even more thrilled. A few were very thankful as they were rushing to get to the hospital early in the morning and did not manage to grab a bite yet. The orthopedic doctors were so cute that they sat down and ate the buns in a circle after their daily briefing. The pharmacists - well you can see their reaction from the picture!

That was totally a great day for all of us. Even though we were tired running here and there, pushing the heavy carts (we were all girls team that day!) but the sense of satisfaction was beyond words! However, I really need to state here that the little thing that we did on that day was not meant to 'help' the people - they didn't even asked for it.

We were in fact the party that got the 'help'. As Shiefa said it very correctly, we need this kind of activity to 'cleanse our soul' - as we had being caught up with our own lives, pursuing our dreams and personal goals, that we might sometimes, found ourselves steer away from being the person that we used to be. The tendency to be a hard, egoistic, self-centric person are there as we are working towards personal achievements, because we think of only ourselves. 

Therefore, this activity helps to bring us back on track - it made us to realized that life has a larger purpose than just being selfish and only thought about our wants and needs. To see the surprise and joy shone from their faces were truly priceless!  

This entry serves as a reminisce of how the activity had made us feel. It showed us the power of love - we could be strangers, but with just a warm smile, in less than a minute we are bounded with love. For a moment, all your worries and troubles seem to fade away. To me, this is what the world REALLY need right now, more love and kindness, because love knows no boundaries!