BEING a strong advocate of ‘No to Single-Use Plastic’, state Welfare, Caring Society and Environment Committee chairman Phee Boon Poh is urging the public to wear reusable face mask to protect themselves as well as the environment.
He said the mandatory face mask ruling imposed by the Federal Government since Aug 1 has impacted the Penang government’s policy of saying ‘No to Single-Use Plastic’.
“We have a population of about 1.8 million people and 200,000 day residents (people coming in and out of Penang.
“So, if only 50 percent of the 2 million people use the surgical face mask every day, you can imagine the local council having to dispose off one million pieces of face mask per day.
“If half the population use reusable face mask, then we are talking about saving the environment. It cannot happen overnight but it can be done,” Phee said after officiating the reopening of the St Nicholas Home and launching of the online Taska OKU fundraising project in Gottlieb Road yesterday.
He added that the Penang Green Council, a state government agency, was collaborating with a non-governmental organisation called the Butterworth Lay Buddhist Society to distribute 1,000 reusable face masks to schools .
Phee said they were reaching out to the hardcore poor, especially single mothers, to help them earn some money by sewing the face masks as a form of a cottage industry.
“They can sew the face mask at their own pace. If they can sew about 30 face masks per day, they may earn between RM30 and RM40.
“The face mask has three layers. We follow WHO (World Health Organisation) specifications; the outer layer is made of polyester, the middle layer acts as a filter and the inner layer which can absorb water is made of cotton.”
For the hardcore poor, Phee said the state government would be looking for a solution to help them with face mask. They already have difficulty feeding themselves, let alone pay a fine of RM1,000 if caught without wearing face mask in public places.
On another matter, Phee said they have appealed to the Federal Government to use a common name or regularise taska, tadika and day care centre.
“Taska is currently under the Social Welfare but Tadika is under the Education Department. This is something which is not very healthy because everybody gets confused. So, we want them to look into this problem.”
Earlier at the reopening of SNH and launching of the online Taska OKU fundraising project, SNH general manager David Chiang said they are targeting to raise RM700,000 in a year to support their online programme.
“The online fundraising is made possible because of the partnership we have with Loccitance and Ticket2U.
“We want to thank Loccitance for all the free gifts they are providing us for this event and we also want to thank Ticket2U for letting us use their platform to raise fund for our Taska,” Chiang said.
Also present at the launching of the fundraising were Pulau Tikus assemblyman Chris Lee Chun Kit, St Nicholas Home board director Datuk G. Thyagarajah and treasurer Roy Chai, special guest Low Wee Keong (a blind chef with a well-known Youtube channel called Blind in The Kitchen) and his friend Alex Khoo, Ticekt2U event director Tan Kare Ying and Loccitance beauty consultant Lim Licole.
According to Chiang, they need RM1.7 million per year or an average of RM140,000 per month to run the home.
It has 75 students, including eight Taska children from ages of two to six who are totally or partially blind.
There are 40 staff members, with Chiang saying that sometimes it requires one teacher to take care of only two or three children with special needs.
The home’s Wellness Centre was the last to reopen yesterday by abiding to strict standard operating procedures.
It provides therapy sessions, like head and shoulder massage, foot reflexology, full body massage, Shiatsu Japanese massage and acupuncture.
For those interested, they can call for appointment at 04-229 7560 or 018-787 5911 or email SNH at [email protected] (book one day in advance) while for those who want to contribute to the online fundraising project, more information can be found at http://t2u.asia/e/19577.
Story by K.H. Ong
Pix by Alvie Cheng