Courtesy: The Star On Line


The futsal way to charity

By ESTHER CHANDRAN

Photos by SAMUEL ONG and courtesy of SAMSUNG

SAMSUNG Malaysia Electronics (SME) Sdn Bhd believes corporations can play a role in easing the sufferings of the less fortunate, and hence organised its inaugural Charity Futsal Challenge last month.

The event reinforced the company’s philosophy of supporting and raising funds for deserving charity organisations as the organisers welcomed participants from more than 20 corporate companies to the Sports Planet in Ampang.

Chief executive officer/managing director Min Yong Ho said Samsung would continue its philosophy of supporting underprivileged groups in Malaysia.

“Samsung is always mindful of its corporate social responsibility and it is very satisfying to see many other corporations with the same commitment.

“Besides contributing to a worthy cause, this charity drive represents an opportunity for the corporate community to network outside the office environment and channel our competitive spirit in a fun way,” Min said.

Each participating team, consisting of eight players, paid RM1,000 to participate.

Min said the RM36,000 that had been collected would be distributed to organisations with which Samsung had worked – St Nicholas Home for the Visually Impaired, Lions Club of CyberCare Kuala Lumpur and Damai Disabled Persons Association of Selangor and Wilayah Persekutuan.

Besides the charity futsal, Samsung is also known for its Digital Hope effort – its single largest social programme in South-East Asia and Oceania region, which supports technology-based projects initiated by community organisations to provide education and employment opportunities for youth and people with disabilities.

To date, Samsung has contributed RM8.4mil to 38 projects under the programme.

Samsung Digital Hope aimed to assist charity organisations with their ICT programmes to bridge the digital divide, Min said.

“However, these organisations also need funds for their non-ICT related projects.

“The charity futsal challenge endeavours to support these where possible,” he said.

Underprivileged children from Ozanam Home also competed head-to-head with corporate bigwigs at the futsal challenge.

The home is one of the orphanages adopted by the Lions Club of CyberCare Kuala Lumpur in its ‘e-community for Underprivileged Children’s Homes’ project.

The project was the recipient of a Samsung Digital Hope grant in 2004, which provided ICT equipment to 90 orphanages with a total of over 5,000 residents.

The team from Maxis Berhad emerged champions in the Champion League category, taking home a trophy, a pewter trophy for each player and Samsung 29” SlimFit TVs.

In second place were KG Kagu Evermore Enterprise, winning the players a trophy and Samsung mobile phone each, while the Spiral Integrated Sdn Bhd team came in third with a trophy and Samsung MP3 player each.

The Samsung Famemas Supporters Group were fourth and walked home with individual trophies.

Ranhill Berhad took home trophies for the Super League category



Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com