Gift of joy for over 40 underprivileged children

IT was a wonderful morning for 44 underprivileged children when Hunza Properties Bhd employees answered their wish list as well as treated them to a day of fun, games and lunch at the Gurney Paragon Mall today.

The gifts for the children from the Children Protection Society and Ruyi Home included festive clothes, remote toy cars, bicycle, stationery and badminton racquets.

Hunza Group executive director Khor San Leng presented the gifts to the children as joy was written all over their faces. The cutest of them all arguably was two-year-old Qi Qi, who received a bicycle.

Qi Qi gets her wish for a bicycle as she poses with Khor (centre), Fong and Chris Lee at the “Gift of Joy” Christmas celebration at Gurney Paragon Mall today.

Pulau Tikus assemblyman Chris Lee Chun Kit launched the mall’s “The Gift of Joy” Christmas celebration. Also present were Gurney Paragon Mall executive director Fong Yin Sian, Hunza director Gee Su Lyn and Gurney Paragon Mall head of marketing communications Jasmine Tai.

Lee commended Hunza employees for participating in their “Grant-A-Wish Campaign” to bring Christmas cheer to over 40 children.

“I hope other private entities will also organise something for the less fortunate, especially the children, at every celebration,” Lee said.

The presence of a Santa Claus and a Santarina evoked the festive mood and Yuletide spirit as they went about greeting the children and giving them candies.

Children receiving candies from a Santarina at the “Gift of Joy” Christmas celebration.

Fong expressed her thanks to her colleagues for supporting the campaign.

“It’s a meaningful activity to encourage the employees to share their blessings with the needy. These presents will enable us to give a little bit of Christmas joy to many children,” she said.

First, a group of Hunza employees identified the children’s heartfelt wishes, then did their shopping so that each of the children received their Christmas presents.

Apart from that, the younger children were treated to half an hour of tireless fun at the playland while the older ones tried their hands at taking beautiful photographs at the instagrammable boxes. To top it off, they were treated to a sumptuous lunch at Flip Burger.

The “Gift of Joy” playland is open to the public from today until Jan 1, 2019. With a minimum spending of RM200 in a single receipt, shoppers can redeem a pair of entry passes to the playland which allow children aged four to 12 years old to have a maximum of 20 minutes play time per session.

The children having a ball at the “Gift of Joy” playland.

For Gurney Paragon card members and Standard Chartered Bank cardholders, they just have to spend a minimum of RM150 in a single receipt to redeem two entry passes. The passes are also open for sale at only RM20 (two passes) at the mall’s Concierge, Level 1.

Earlier today, a Supermarket Sweep contest was held at Jaya Grocer in Gurney Paragon Mall. The mall had earlier organised a Facebook photo contest from August to October 2018 to shortlist three winners with the most outstanding photo submissions to take part in the Supermarket Sweep contest. They were Mohamed Nazri Mohamed Tahir, 35, Jessie Kang, 32, and Bong May Yin, 30.

Each of the contestants was given a total of 60 seconds to grab as many items as they could inside the supermarket. It was a tensed and thrilling competition as each of them grabbed everything in sight to fill up their shopping carts.

In conjunction with the 40th anniversary of Hunza Properties Berhad (parent company of Gurney Paragon Mall), the mall is holding a lucky draw campaign to reward Gurney Paragon card members with a total of 1,600,000 Gurney Paragon points. Shoppers can enter the lucky draw contest by joining as a member and spend a minimum of RM400 in a single receipt from now until Dec 31.

On Dec 31, Gurney Paragon Mall will be throwing a New Year’s Eve party complete with live music and performances featuring Anthony Neely from Taiwan, the Mans Dreamer live band performance and many more. Party starts from 7.30pm till late night.

Story by K.H. Ong
Pix by Chan Kok Kuan