Annual baking marathon for SDB

We completed our latest baking marathon for SDB Annual General Meeting!!

Congratulations bakers and thank you SDB for your support throughout the years!

It has been a pleasure baking for you.

Happy faces at the end of a successful marathon!

International Charity Day Carnival by MagnumCares

            Last Saturday was a little different from our regular weekends, we woke up bright and early but this time, we headed to a different park and not for the purpose of carrying out our morning exercises. We were headed to the Taman Jaya park to attend a carnival organised by MagnumCares.

            We have been very fortunate to received support from Magnum 4D for the last two years and this year, in conjunction with World International Charity Day, MagnumCares organised a large-scaled carnival in order to support D&S and 7 other non-governmental organisations. 

         
             Dignity & Services was offered a booth which functioned both as an information booth as well as to sell products made from Bake With Dignity as part of our contribution to the carnival. We sold herb bread loaves, Salted caramel fudge brownies, Fudge brownies, Durian loaves, Pandan loaves, Chempedak cake loaves, Coffee walnut cookies, Cranberry cookies and Pineapple tarts. Within a few hours, all our baked goods were sold out and that feeling of accomplishment truly overwhelmed us!

           Once we were done with our responsibilities, we had time to enjoy the carnival. Although all our members have families that they return to at the end of the program, not many are able to enjoy luxuries such as going to a carnival or being a part of a large community gathering. This may be due to varied reasonable circumstances. Thus, this was a beautiful opportunity truly cherished by all of them. Nicholas and Keat Lai enjoyed trying out all different food available, Onn enjoyed the drums played during the Lion dance, Tiong thoroughly enjoyed all the dance performances while dancing to the beat with his own steps and Foustina, the latest addition to the D&S Team enjoyed the whole atmosphere of the carnival which was very different from the atmosphere back in Sabah.

          Thank you MagnumCares for your support through the years and for this memorable experience that we will keep with us for a long time to come. Although we did not manage to take many pictures, here are a few pictures of our booth and our group pictures.

Setting up the stall

Final group picture after a long, fun-filled day!

Party time!

We are online!!

Ladies and Gentlemen, 

with great pleasure and a warm fuzzy feeling inside, 

we would like to bring you 

Our Website!!!

www.dignityandservices.com

With a very grateful heart we would like to thank our volunteer 

Ravind Muniandy for his hardwork and time in making this website a success!

Do visit us today to learn more about our cause and support us, 

individuals with learning disabilities today! :)

Talk at Full Gospel Assembly

On the 22nd of August, Ivy was invited to Full Gospel Assembly to share about Dignity and Services and the programs we offer. The talk was attended by members of the FGA Parents Support Group for parents with children having learning disabilities. Taking this as a good opportunity for self-advocacy, all full-time D&S members attended the event together with Ivy and Helen and we got to meet many parents and their children who had learning disabilities just like us. 

Ivy shared about our history, our current projects and our future aspirations. She then invited Ee Hunt to come up and share his experience with D&S and Ee Hunt shared a very heartfelt sharing about his journey thus far.

It was a new and special experience and we hope to be able to meet with many more communities of persons with learning disabilities and their families to share our experience and learn from one another.

Here are a few pictures of the event.

Ee Hunt sharing about his experience 

Our talk had a very good reception with over 40 parents attending 

Fundraising by PayPal

Less than a month ago, as a joint effort by the different departments in Paypal Malaysia, staff came together to hold a small fundraiser in support of Dignity & Services. 

They very graciously opened their doors to us having a Buka Puasa Bazaar right at their pantry. Small boutique owners sold dresses, sarees and accesories, other staff made home-cooked chicken curry and other delicacies that were all sold out. We were even offered a stall to sell our Bake with Dignity cakes and cookies!

Our nicely decorated booth for the day

Come get our colourful cookies jars now available upon purchase of cookies!

D&S would like to sincerely thank Paypal for their time and support.

Your support helps us go the distance!

A little about Options 2

             OPTIONS is a supported living program run by Dignity & Services with the aim of teaching adults with learning disabilities basic life skills. This concept is based on clear values to help us recognize ourselves as unique individuals capable of making life choices and living independently. These skills are essential especially when our parents or primary caregivers are no longer with us. Options 1 was started in the year 2006 with only 6 members but has since grown to house many more individuals.
             Options 2 was opened in July 2012 with the aim of expanding the reach of the Options program to more individuals with learning disabilities. Despite minor setbacks through the years, Options 2 is now up and going with 6 members joining our program weekly. We are a small group of individuals who come together over the weekend for our overnight stay program. Here we decide for ourselves what we would like to eat, go out grocery shopping to buy all the ingredients, wash, cut and cook meals together, wipe and clean up after we're done, wash our bathrooms and vacuum and mop the floor in our Options home, discuss current affairs and the going-ons in the country, visit places of interest, and go for morning exercises. 

              Options 2 moves at a much slower pace than Options 1. This is important in order to allow us, as individuals to learn and develop without pressure, to learn how to communicate with our peers in our own ways (not necessarily through verbal communication) and to support ourselves and one another in completing daily tasks. Friendships made here are very different from friendships formed outside. We use touch and gestures to communicate, our faces light up at the sight of another friend arriving for the program,  

Here we welcome anyone who would like to be a part of us

Here we do not judge

Here we enjoy companionship 

Here we relate despite our speech difficulties

Here we share jokes without words

Here we share laughter and smiles

Here we love without boundaries

Here we share comfort and tears

Here we do not complain or blame others 

Here we help each other in ways we know how 

Here we are patient and compassionate

Here we help without needing to be asked

Here we look out for one another

Here we lead by example

Here we love.

'The thing about living with any disability is that you adapt, you do what works for you'

Stella Young

#wespeakcode

On the 2nd of April, five of us participated in the #wespeakcode workshop Organised by Microsoft Malaysia in collaboration with UNICEF. #Wespeakcode is a global effort by Microsoft to teach students how the computer works by exposing them to coding, giving them a better understanding of how softwares, apps and websites are made. 

We were thought using two different gaming program where the trainers went through the whole process by guiding us step-by-step. It was truly and educational and fun day for us all!

Here are some pictures for you.

 Wai Keen was asked to teach a UNICEF Ambassador how to do coding

 Ji Xian showing the skills he has learnt throughout the past few hours

 The boys posing with the trainer and a facilitator

 Proud certificates of completion!

New team!!

Hello everyone!

This is just a short announcement to let you know our long standing Executive Director Mettilda John is looking into retirement but will remain her roles as Senior Advisor to our service team.

With this we convey our heartfelt gratitude to Mettilda for her time, energy and services to us for the last 15 years! 

We Love youuu!

INTRODUCING... our new Executive Director, vibrant, enthusiastic Helen Teh who has replaced Mettilda. We thank you for having the courage to take on this role and we look forward to many new adventures together!

We would also like to introduce to you, our newest Community Support Coordinator, the young and energetic, Ivy Philip.

Here's to an exciting new beginning!

Happy weekend everybodyy! :)

Updates just for you!:)

Visit to The Farm in the City

Sorry we've been missing for a while. Here's a little update on what we've been doing!

We had a lovely visit to The Farm in the City where we got to pet and feed turtles, birds, goats and more. Here are some pictures!

    

BWD bakes for CNY

We had two friends from MCKL; Vickesh and Alia come help us out as well

Say hello to our newest baker, Saras! :)

Julie standing proudly with her hard work! 

Break time!

The more the merrier!!

Our completed boxes ready for delivery        

Our very own chocolate moist cake!

And the final celebratory red velvet birthday cake. Yumm!

For more photos and updates, please visit our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/DignityAndServices
Or follow our Bake with dignity account on instagram with the name bakewdignity