Yayasan Suria JB (YSJB) – To serve with L
ve & Humility!
As in the business/corporate world, our clients are the most important people for they give us business and ultimately big fat profits.
So it is with the ‘volunteer/NGO’ world, our clients(the people we serve, the Poor & Needy) are also the most important, they are our VIPs.
True to YSJB’s motto of serving with Lve & Humility and living it in the real world are, at times, very difficult but challenging.
Why so? Our clients come from all sorts of background, some uneducated, some who just don’t know how to talk, some in their own state of despair, frustration and simply, have lost all hope of living due to the current state of economic difficulties. And the list goes on and on ……..
Serving them is not easy even though we are the one giving them aid – we get reprimanded, scolded and even criticized but at the end of the day, we are there to SERVE, not bossed around.
Once a volunteer/committee member arrived late to give cash aid. The son of this HIV/AIDS woman scolded the volunteer for coming late.
He said “sorry”, apologized, gave the money and told the son that he will try to be on time the next time.
Most of the time, this volunteer was early for the appointment and the client was late. Did he get angry? No.
Why? If the volunteer gets angry, refuses the give the client the cash(we are in control of the money), who will lose? The client.
That day, the volunteer’s wife was together with him, she scolded him for being stupid by saying sorry to the young boy.
He told his wife that he too said sorry to her each time he was scolded by his wife. Period. Story ended. Peace and harmony prevail!
Later, he told me that he was so hesitated to scold the boy in question, walked away and don’t give him any more money in future. Then he remembered what I always tell the volunteers ” To serve with Lve & Humility and the most important persons are our clients, the Poor & Needy.”
Another case. A person asked me to go to her house to take preloved items. I went, loaded the items, including empty cooking oil containers, old newspaper, etc. In the midst of loading, I saw about 3 cockroches. She saw them too.
Did I complain and make a big fuss?
I brought the things to a recycled shop, sold what were ‘unwanted’, got a few bucks, sorted out the preloved itemd to be given away, washed my car(then my own saloon car, not the present Toyota Hilux I am driving now), went for a good car wash(including spraying the car with insecticide spray) and giving the car wash boy a few ringgit for killing the cockroaches. Indeed, he was so surprised how the cockroaches got into my car!
Nevermind, today, this lady is one of my strongest financial supporters, telling her friends about my humility, attitude of serving the Poor and what it takes ‘to serve’ – in turn this news spread far and wide and now, this lady and her friends are our regular donors, in terms of cash and kind – the ripple effects of being humble! They even told me to call them when I run short of funds to do charity works and they will help out.
Another case.
There was this guy, from KL, he sent me RM10 through online banking, asked for the OR(original receipt) to be sent to his address in KL.
I complied and sent him by a 60 sen/70 sen (RM1.30) stamped envelope.
This went on for 5 months and I faithfully did as requested without any questions asked. Then, came the big surprise!
On the 6th month, I received a banked-in amount of RM5k, I called him up to enquire whether it was a mistake and I will refund the necessary amount(5k minus RM10).
To my surprise and delight, he said “No” – since then, he has been sending me RM5k monthly for the past few months.
He told me later that I don’t discriminate, don’t question, never looked down on any amount given and sent the OR to him as requested.
It is not our business to question anyone or any amount received, we receive any amount with a grateful heart of thanksgiving, no amount is too small or too big for YSJB, all will be issued with a tax exemption receipt as we are accountable for all funds received, our accounts are prepared by a chartered accounting firm, accounts sent to ROS and Inland Revenue Board Of Malaysia.
It is not easy to serve with Lve & Humility but since we are here TO SERVE, we do it willingly with Lve and enjoy what we are doing. This is the road less traveled that we have chosen and volunteers of YSJB must live by this motto at all times.
Someone once asked “Why are your volunteers so stupid, don’t get paid, being scolded and yet still following you around?”
Ask any of our volunteers and they will tell you this:
The joy of serving with Lve & Humility that money can’t buy. And all the interesting “real life stories” I shared with them as they volunteer.
Call or message us if you are game enough to volunteer(full time like me) or part time at your own convenience – we will fit you in somehow and somewhere to be part of our team.
Happy volunteering!