Pertubuhan Kebajikan Ananda Cares

Weekends are busy times for Vimala Subramaniam. Though admittedly, things at Ananda Cares centre are not as hectic as they are during festive seasons, when its bakery department is rushed off its feet fulfilling orders.

Being a full time research scientist in the Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM), Vimala and her architect husband have contributed most of their free time to the charity centre which was founded by her husband Ayavoo Arumugam in 1992.

“In the beginning, it was just an outdoor area in the grounds of an old temple in Kampung Laksamana. He [Arumugam] was giving lessons on human and social values to the underprivileged children who lived nearby.

“Later, as the number of children increased, my husband built a simple classroom for the children. The children were also provided with snacks like homemade biscuits and after classes, fed with a simple lunch,” Vimala reminisces.

Over time, their efforts have fortunately gained the public’s attention and a generous donor contributed a double-storey terraced house in Batu Caves in 2007 for them to run a proper charity centre.

Today, Ananda Cares houses a kitchen, bakery, a food packaging operation, a medical and dialysis centre, as well as a children’s education centre.

“Our initial core objectives were to provide value-based educational classes to the children, and, free basic medical aid and care services to those who can’t afford it. However, we have now expanded our role by offering training to our charges so that they are equipped with the necessary skills to seek potential employment,” she adds.

Ananda Cares was originally a 100% volunteer-run non-profit social service centre that offered various services to the poor and needy for free. However, as the number of people seeking help increased and exceeded the centre’s capacity, it became vital to look for a sustainable approach to enable the organisation to generate a viable and stable means of income.

“In the beginning, we were giving them pocket money and free food but the demands were never-ending and the number of people kept increasing. Most of the time, we had to fork out our savings for the cost of operations and this is not a sustainable way to help them,” she explains.

Since last year, Ananda Cares started to sell biscuits and snacks, such as murukku, jam tarts and even homemade chocolate to generate income for the centre’s operations. In addition, they offer catering services and a lunch delivery service to the public.

Besides that, there is also a packaging segment — curry and spice powder, as well as pickles — which offers part time employment to the elderly and intellectually disabled.

“For the part-time workers, we pay them rm50 a day as a living allowance and rm100 worth of monthly provisions, which comprise energy beverage drinks, rice, noodles, spices, biscuits and necessities such as adult or infant diapers,” she says.

As for the full time employees who work five days a week, they receive a monthly salary of rm500 and a monthly provision.

Undeniably, at times, it’s difficult for the charity organisation to get sufficient funding through donations. But this hasn’t prevented Ananda Cares from offering even more services to the community as the organisation has plans to open a dental clinic and dentures laboratory at its medical centre next year to help the nearby elderly who are unable to travel far for free dental treatment.

Pertubuhan Kebajikan Ananda Cares

Address: No 152, Jalan Laksamana 2/2,

Kg. Laksamana, 68100 Batu Caves, Selangor

Contact: (019) 324 8993

Facebook: SaiAnandaFoundation

Website: anandacares.org

This report is part of the "Food For Thought" segment in Live! 2019.

This story first appeared in Live! 2019 magazine. Download your copy of the magazine here.