echo “This is Christmas. The season of perpetual hope.”
— Kate McCallister, “Home Alone”
As the festive mood starts to set in, the mouthwatering smell of gingerbread cookies wafts through the air, and some eager families start to set out their grand trees full of ornaments, it’s expected that everyone is gearing up for the Christmas season.
It’s a new season of giving! Just as Santa Claus sets sail through the winter night with his sleigh and his reindeer, you too can contribute by making a donation to Sunway Student Volunteers, SSV’s Shoebox Project, formally known as Shoebox Christmas.
It embodies the true spirit behind this holiday as the team works to give back to the community. While most people are savouring the season, drinking hot cocoa, and getting excited about their gifts, there are just as many kids who don’t experience that luxury. Although childhood stories declare that Santa goes down everyone’s chimney, that isn’t the case in reality. Many kids still wake up on December 25th to a gaping, empty space under the tree.
The good news: It doesn’t always have to be that way.
Starting off as an ambitious student initiative to spread Christmas joy to those less fortunate, the very first Shoebox Christmas in 2015 saw 528 shoeboxes being donated to underprivileged kids. Each gift was hand-wrapped and prepared with love, and as they were distributed to these kids they also simultaneously became a symbol of hope and joy. The happiness and gratitude on these kids’ faces would make anyone’s heart melt! In the 8 years since then, 5,797 shoeboxes have been donated in total, showing the tremendous impact that Shoebox Christmas has had.
This year, the goal has been expanded. What was once known as Shoebox Christmas is now Shoebox Project. While the project still aims to gift more shoeboxes to underprivileged kids, it’s also looking to more long-term and high-impact goals. SSV aims to widen its beacon of hope to shine over an even larger area, including Orang Asli families, refugees, orphanages, and NGO school students.
These 4 groups are the main beneficiaries of Shoebox Project 1.0, each with unique challenges that SSV are trying to combat.
Many Orang Asli families face serious challenges with access to clean water, as they’ve been displaced and have lost access to and use of the land. Also due to their remote locations, it is often even more difficult for them to reach existing infrastructure and resources. Malaysia’s Department of Statistics reported in 2020 that 53% of Orang Asli communities don’t have access to clean, piped water, which is a baffling statistic when compared to the fact that 95.9% of all Malaysians have clean water available to them. This only further reveals how vulnerable the Orang Asli community is and how disproportionately affected they are by this lack of resources.
This is what has motivated SSV to incorporate them into the new Shoebox Project, which aims to provide a combined total of 60 water filters to Kampung Orang Asli Hulu Kuang and Kampung Orang Asli Batu 12.
It doesn’t stop just there, of course, as SSV has also set its sights high on lifting some of the financial burden experienced by refugees as they adapt to their new environment and living conditions. Refugees are heavily reliant on NGOs to meet their living costs. As there are no laws relating to the status of refugees, they are often treated as illegal intruders by authorities.
As of 2024, there are approximately 191,000 refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia registered with UNHCR. That’s just shy of the population of Samoa, a whole country! With no safety net and no stable footing, these refugees find themselves at the mercy of simple goodwill even while battling the challenges of being far from home, stranded in a foreign place. This motivates the second goal of Shoebox Project, which is to raise funds for The Peace Education and to nab a much-needed projector for the Myanmar Refugee Kids Tuition Project.
Keeping with the theme of supporting and bringing hope to young kids, SSV also aims to deliver Praise Emmanuel Children’s Home a mini-library, which is essential in ensuring the orphans there receive quality education.
Further supporting Sustainable Development Goal 4: Quality Education for All, SSV will also be using the funds raised from Shoebox Project to support NGO schools like Buku Jalanan Chow Kit and Hope Selangor, totalling to 91 beneficiaries.
Although students often bemoan having to lug heavy backpacks into class at the crack of dawn, in actuality, education is a privilege that many don’t get. The closure of schools due to the COVID-19 pandemic only exacerbated the issue, causing learning losses and setting up even more barriers to education. Schools and proper learning set up individuals to have essential and employable skills in their toolbar. The effects of education stretch across a person’s whole life. A child whose mother can read is 50% more likely to survive past the age of 5!
Shoebox Project has hosted multiple charity drives in the past month, all valiant efforts to raise funds while also bringing fun activities to Sunway’s campus. You might have even seen or joined some of them! There was a fundraising movie night, where participants watched the tear-jerking movie “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies”. A few days later was a charity bazaar featuring rows of mouthwatering food, unique snacks, and cute trinkets galore.
It doesn’t stop there! In weeks 1 and 2 of the Shoebox Project (3rd of November to 17th of November), SSV embarked on its journey of giving and visited 4 out of its many beneficiary groups to distribute gifts. These gifts were tailored to the beneficiaries’ needs and prepared with an abundance of love and care. This coincided with sharing the warmth and joy of Deepavali, extending it out to these vulnerable groups.
However, none of these activities would be possible without the compassion of Shoebox Project’s donors. It is the combination of many rays of light which form the beacon of hope that guides the way for those struggling in the dark.
You too can contribute directly to their efforts today and colour someone’s life into new, vibrant shades. SSV members have been actively promoting the project, and you may find them perusing the foyer this month too! If you’re looking to donate, you can visit the SSV Shoebox Project’s Instagram page for more information on their latest activities.
In these downtrodden times chock-full of conflict, climate-driven displacement, and other tragedies, keeping the spark of empathy alive is crucial. Wouldn’t you want someone to offer you a hand in your darkest times? Wouldn’t you want these humble crumbs of love and hope in the world? Don’t wait – you can make a difference. Shoebox Project’s Virtual Donation Drive is open until the 5th of December!
“And the universe said you are not separate from every other thing.
…
And the universe said I love you because you are love.”
— Minecraft End Poem
Written By: Jia Yi
Edited By: Tisyha
