Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 17 November 2008 – A1 Team Malaysia put down their spanners and turned off their laptops during the weekend of 15 and 16 November and picked up paintbrushes for the A1 Team Malaysia Outreach programme, the team’s social responsibility arm. The Malaysian A1GP team assisted Shelter with repairs and redecoration of one of the charities’ care homes, following the team’s donation of a replacement roof for the building.
The drivers, mechanics, engineering, administrative and marketing personnel from A1 Team Malaysia all provided practical assistance in the building work. Over the course of the weekend the team was joined by 30 volunteers from the team’s Fanzone who all provided valuable support in order to ensure that the project was quickly finished.
The outside of the Shelter home was totally given a complete makeover, including an extension provided by A1 Team Malaysia Outreach, which will be a new laundry room. Internally, the ground floor area was also given a new look with the freshly painted house delighting the Shelter children. The children’s enthusiasm led to their help in the painting, with many faces having as much paint on them as the walls!
A1 Team Malaysia’s help and support has extended beyond this project, with their generosity continuing at the A1GP Sepang race this weekend. The residents of the Shelter will all attend the event and have a chance to meet up with the team in their more usual environment and see the team’s race car up close.
Azrai Razuan Key Account Manager, a1 Team Malaysia, said of the project, “This has been a very tiring but worthwhile weekend of work which we’ve all thoroughly enjoyed particularly with the gratitude that the children and staff of Shelter have shown. Extending our sports programme into the community brings us closer to the people of Malaysia and as a team this is very important to us. Shelter provides an invaluable service to so many disadvantaged Malaysians and we admire the work that they do, so to be able to help in a small way has been great. We look forward to welcoming the staff and children to our ‘home’ at the racetrack this weekend.”
Anderson Selvasegaram, Manager of Shelter Homes commented, “It was wonderful and we’re really impressed with what the team had done for us. The team did the work as efficiently and as fast as if they were handling the pitstop! In fact we have never seen a group of people work so quickly. It was really a job well done and we really appreciate what A1 Team Malaysia has done for us”
The team’s Outreach programme was introduced last year with the first initiative undertaken at the SJK(T) Keruh school in the north of Perak at a town called Pengkalan Hulu. The team helped to refurbish the building and showed their ability to turn their hands from building race cars to painting walls. The second project for the team was supporting a fund-raising go-kart event at Shah Alam earlier this year. The team’s generosity, alongside that of other local companies and organisations, raised over RM15,000 in cash and kind.
Shelter, a registered welfare organization, was set up in June 1981. The charity is guided by the vision of giving children at risk a childhood and future by protecting guiding and healing them, and by building strong communities and loving families.
Shelter’s services and initiatives are aimed at providing care for abused, abandoned, neglected or at-risk children through our homes, and through counselling and therapy. It also aims to proactively raise public awareness on child abuse, parenting and youth issues, and equipping individuals with relevant skills to detect signs of abuse and to take action.
