Year End Bonus

Many of us right now at this time of year will think of getting a fat or not so fat bonus from our employers. Sometimes it is hard to even think about it as we might get a very disappointing bonus amount especially at these economic trying times.

Well for us at APOH, we are really thankful to all ultimate supportive donors out there that has given a very very fat ‘bonus’ to Persatuan Kanak-Kanak Istimewa Hulu Langat (PKKIHL). This ‘bonus’ came in a form of an over the top unexpected donations received for APOH 2011 Chapter 5. Look below at the mock cheque amount imprinted…

YES you are right! The final total donation amount received is RM220,987.69. What an astonishing satisfaction for PKKIHL when they saw this amount in their bank account as at 30^th November 2011. This has made their building fund raising effort easier as they can settle their loans earlier with this amount received.

As for us at APOH, we are indeed humbled by the support given by ALL donors this year in order to achieve this amount. This has given us more ‘juice’ to continue our efforts next year for APOH 2012 Chapter 6. The success of APOH each year can not only be attributed to the committee members but also to YOU donors which has made a little ‘piece’ difference in the lives of these underprivileged children.

Cheers and a very Happy New Year to all!

Photos courtesy of Mr. Mok JS

The Ultimate 'Mountain' has been CONQUERED

A great news to all!

PKKI president has just informed me that they have reached

RM 203,391

in donations collection. An early surprise for them as well as for us. In merely 4 1/2 months of our donation drive, our target of RM 200,000 have been fulfilled. This is our largest donation collected so far out of our 5 years A Piece Hope Hope Mt. Kinabalu charity climb.

Thanks to all of our generous donors and a special BIG THANK YOU to Mr. Foo Jong Wee for his unwavering support and assistance in being the main 'pusher' for donations.

We still got until year end before formal closure of our APOH 2011 donation drive. If you are still soliciting donations, please don't stop there just because we have reached our target. Carry on.....

Thank you.

A Piece Of Hope CHAPTER 6 : 2012 is now OPEN for booking

We are pleased to announce that A Piece Of Hope (APOH) CHAPTER 6 : 2012 is now OPEN for booking until 31^st December 2011.

The charity climb will happen from 14 – 18 July 2012. This time we are also allocating 200 pax. The cost per person is RM1,000 (including RM200 compulsory donation to NGO). Air ticket is not included as this you have to buy on your own. Whoever is interested, please follow the steps below:

1. Email to Jimmy Lim at jimmylim@malton.com.my
2. Once got firm reply, please proceed to buy your air ticket arriving Kota Kinabalu airport on 14^th July 2012 on or before 11.15am (Please ensure that you adhere to this time as this is our bus pick-up times. If you arrive after 11.15am, you will have to arrange your own transport to Kinabalu Park).
3. Next, proceed to bank-in non-refundable deposit of RM300 to Jimmy Lim’s bank account. Please download the ‘Climb Booking Form 2012’ to get Jimmy Lim’s bank account details (link to download this form is on the right hand side of this page).
4. After you have done the above, please email to Jimmy Lim:

a) copy of air ticket itinerary

b) copy of non-refundable deposit bank-in slip

c) fully completed ‘Climb Booking Form 2012’

5. Once we have received all of the above, your booking is CONFIRMED.

(FYI, Jimmy Lim is our climb coordinator head whom have been organizing this since 2000)

Below are some FAQs to facilitate your understanding of this charity climb.

Q1) What is the brief itinerary for A Piece Of Hope (APOH) CHAPTER 6 : 2012?

A1) Day 1 (14^th July) – fly into KK, bus to Kinabalu Park, stay Kinabalu Park;

Day 2 (15^th July) – trek up Mt K, stay at Laban Rata;

Day 3 (16^th July) – trek up to summit and trek down to Kinabalu Park, stay at Zen Resort Kundasang;

Day 4 (17^th July) – bus to KK, stay at Sutera Harbour;

Day 5 (18^th July) – fly back home.

Q2) Can I fly into KK a day earlier, say on the 13^th July and get onto the bus transfer to Kinabalu Park on 14^th July?

A2) Yes you can fly into KK a day or two earlier. The extra hotel stays earlier will not be covered in the RM1,000 and you have to arrange these on your own. Please meet the bus transfer at One Borneo at 12.30pm on 14^th July.

Q3) I am flying MAS and it lands in Terminal 1 KK airport. Do your bus pick up there?

A3) Our bus transfer picks up at Terminal 1 & 2 from 9.30 – 11.30am. If you missed the bus, you might have to take a taxi to One Borneo to meet us.

Q4) Whom shall I contact when I touch down at KK airport to go to the bus transfer?

A4) You can contact Ryan Chong at 019-8628688 or Jimmy Lim at 012-2020511.

Q5) I don’t want to stay at Sutera Harbour. Can I get a discount since I don’t stay at Sutera Harbour? Can I book my flight out from KK on 17^th July then?

A5) The cost of the climb is fixed at RM1,000 even if you choose not to stay at Sutera Harbour. We book everything in a massive group of 200pax, so we don’t cater for special personal request like this (even tour agents don’t cater to this).

Q6) I heard that for the past 2 years, the climb group has been divided up into two. Can you explain this?

A6) Since 2010, we have massive groups of between 150 – 200pax. Mt Kinabalu can only cater up to 146 climbers at any one time due to constraints of accommodation at Laban Rata. So we have to divide the climb into two groups. Next year, the 1^st group of 100 climbers will start their climb on Day 2 (come down Mt K on Day 3) and 2^nd group of 100 climbers will start climb on Day 3 (come down Mt K on Day 4). We will ascertain based on committee’s discretion who goes into which group when we have the finalized list of climbers. We are sorry that you can’t choose the days.

Q7) My children wants to climb also, so how much do they pay?

A7) Children age 12 and below pays RM800 (they are exempted from paying the non-refundable deposit). If they do not climb but just want to tag along for the trip, they still pay RM800. Children age 6 and below are free.

Q8) My mom wants to come along with me but do not want to climb, how much does she pays?

A8) Non-climbers from age of 13 – 99 pays the same as climbers which is RM1,000 (non-climbers have to pay the RM300 non-refundable deposit also).

Q9) If I pull out after paying the RM300 non-refundable deposit, where does this money go?

A9) The RM300 will go to the children NGO that we will adopt next year to raise fund for.

Q10) Do I need to raise a certain amount of money for this charity climb?

A10) No, you don’t have to but we RECOMMEND that you participate in this noble cause to help raise funds for the children NGOs. Just imagine, if all 200 climbers raise RM1,000 each, the NGO would have RM200,000! Approximately in early June 2012, please check our website for the official donation letter and form to help you collect donations.

Please be reminded that we are no tour agent. We are just a ‘bunch of crazy’ Mt. Kinabalu climbing enthusiast whom have found a way to help charitable children NGOs every year since 2007. We do not take a CENT out of this event as a profit. In fact, all committee members pay the same climbing cost. We are all into this to raise funds for charitable children NGOs and so far we have helped raise closed to RM750,000 since 2007.

Have a great day and hope to see you in APOH 2012!

(click on this link to download this post)

We are getting there

This is an update for those who are following the total donation amount collected so far by Persatuan Kanak-Kanak Istimewa Hulu Langat (PKKI). As of end August, the bank statement shows:

If you haven't got your calculator with you, we are only shy of RM 19,165.00. Most of the donations are from corporate sector in which to show that our corporate people are a generous lot. In today's (27th September 2011) Star newspaper, we can see that also happening as a Community Chest (CC) was setup by business tycoons of Malaysia to help vernacular and mission schools. These schools can apply for funding from the CC if they ever need to.

Our donation collection period has still until the year end to reach the targeted RM 200,000. It is a mountain yet to be conquered but is possible!

The 7 distress events that painted our 7 rainbow colours of the climb

Rainbows are usually acquainted with happy moments. You might see photos of jovial children playing in an open field amidst a huge rainbow in the background. In our case, it was 7 distress events that were dancing amidst a colourful rainbow. I will explain these events later in my blog.

This year we had 200 registered climbers but only 192 made the climb and it is our biggest group ever! We had to break the group into 2 days climb like last year. Day 1, 10^th July, 100 climbers and Day 2, 11^th July, 92 climbers. Apart from climbers there were also non-climbers who tagged along just for the fun of it and they numbered approximately 20. To transfer the groups from KK airport to Kinabalu Park, we had to hire 5 buses.

This year we had a corporate product sponsor, Fusion Excel. They contributed products for sale in which all proceed goes to Persatuan Kanak-Kanak Istimewa Hulu Langat. There were also lucky draw prizes for climbers. Demonstration of these products were conducted by Mr. Willy Toh of Fusion Excel which got many climbers excited and awe. A rough indication of total product sales was told to me as amounting to RM19,000. Wow! A good job well done by Fusion Excel.

Unlike previous years, the climb up Mt. Kinabalu this year was exceptionally blessed with tremendously good weather. The sky was clear, wind conditions were mild and rain hold its bank till late in the afternoon for 3 days of the climb. Our 192 climbers with various fitness level, age and race could not have asked for anything more.

Now here is the interesting part of my blog in which I will detail it out the major distress events that happened using the 7 colours of the rainbow:

1. RED: Jimmy and committee members AirAsia flight got delayed 3 hours in KL due to airplane’s technical fault. They were promised free lunch upon landing (hooray!) but later got only Tiger biscuit and a pack of drink (what a cheapskate!).
2. ORANGE: Zen Resort had a landslide recently rendering some of the units unusable and some collapsed. This caused the 2^nd batch climbers to be housed in 3 separate hotels in Kundasang, namely Zen Resort, Kinabalu Pine Resorts and Perkasa Hotel. It was a long day for them as some of them had to checked-in as late as 10pm.
3. YELLOW: In the 1^st day climb, a man climber misunderstood instructions and used Mesilau route to climb down Mt. Kinabalu. This is the 1^st time in 12 years of our climb that this grave mistake happened.
4. GREEN: In the 1^st day climb, a senior couple and their friend, all from Singapore, arrived at Timpohon gate almost midnight. This is the ‘super’ latest on our record however they reached the peak!
5. BLUE: In the 2^nd day climb, a man climber had his leg muscles severely stressed and thus injured it got to be brought down to Timpohon gate by stretcher which cost him RM1,300.
6. INDIGO: In the 2^nd day climb, a lady climber in the midst of rush forgotten to collect her baggage at Kinabalu Park which she was to collect upon coming down Mt. Kinabalu. Ryan (Zen Resort boss) then had it arranged to send to her the next day.
7. VIOLET: One of the committee members left his bag in KK airport. He flew back to KL without that bag. The fate of the bag is uncertain.

VITAL STATISTICS:

Total no. of climbers: 192

Timpohon climbers: 55 (day 1) + 56 (day 2) = 111

Mesilau climbers: 45 (day 1) + 36 (day 2) = 81

Percentage of climbers that reached summit: 75%

Earliest time reached summit: 4.27am

Latest time reached summit: approx. 8.30am

Total donation collected (as of 25^th July): approx. RM70,000