Shelter 3

 Sunshine Shelter :) 
Most of the teenage boys between the ages of 13 and 18 at shelter are among the weakest students in their schools because of their backgrounds of abuse or neglect.
We have full-time staff to run the home on a shift basis to ensure the smooth running of the home. There are a good number of volunteers who help out faithfully on a regular basis. We greatly appreciate and value their time spent with our boys.

It has always been Shelter's hope to have a home of its own. In the past the children had to move from place to place each time the lease on the home expired. Children, especially those from difficult backgrounds, need stability and consistency in their lives. They need to be able to integrate and form good friendships with people in the neighbourhood and in their schools. Thus, Shelter decided to ensure a permanent home by purchasing a property although it would be a financial strain on Shelter.

In 2005, the dream of having our own home materialised and Shelter 3 finally moved to a permanent home in Section 8, Petaling Jaya. At this time we also combined Shelter 5 (teenage boys) and Shelter 3 so that there would be consistency in the way the boys were brought up.

  


History and Development
Shelter, a registered welfare organization, has been in existence since 1981 to help abused, abandoned, neglected or at-risk children.

Shelter Home for Children started as a result of the vision of a group of seven friends who wanted to help the children in a squatter settlement along Old Klang Road. They initiated tuition classes so that the children could do better in their studies.

When the group found three homeless boys sleeping in the corridors of the State Cinema (now Lotus Restaurant, at New Town, Petaling Jaya) the group decided to rent a single storey bungalow in Section 12, Petaling Jaya. "All that we had was an empty house without any furniture. We sat, ate and slept on the floor. But, in the end, the boys stole some money and ran away!" said Mr James Nayagam, Executive Director of Shelter, one of the seven friends who started Shelter.

Not disheartened, the group of friends decided to bring one of the families from the settlement who had been evicted from their house, to stay in the house in Section 12. Most families in the settlement were living on rented premises but found it difficult to pay the rent.

As numbers in the home increased, we moved to our present premises at Jalan Tinggi, Petaling Jaya. Various groups helped by providing tuition and even fostered those in need of foster care placement.

In time, Shelter established 10 kindergartens in squatter settlements with the first one being in Damansara Dalam (1989). A nominal fee of RM5 was charged per student. These kindergartens were an effort in helping children from underprivileged homes to have a good start in life.  Shelter decided to close down the kindergartens after 15 years of operation when we noticed a dramatic drop in the number of children attending our kindergartens - urban affluence had also affected low income families in their perception and preferences for education for their children.

As Shelter evaluated the work, we decided to move into a more proactive approach in helping disadvantaged children by being a positive influence on teenagers.

We have also ventured into community youth work among young prisoners in Kajang Prison. There are about 1,000 delinquents in Kajang Prison and Sg. Buloh Prison. We hope to educate, train and help the juveniles to regain their self-respect and integrity so that they can rejoin society at a later date. This is very gratifying work as it requires discipline, commitment and focus to run the social work programmes.

We have also set-up a youth community centre (DropZone). This is a centre for youths to hang out where the focus is on the personal development of youths through healthy and positive activities. The target group is 13 - 20 years old.

For the homes, we saw the need for helping teenagers who were beyond parental control. This led to the setting up of Shelter 2 (1987), Shelter 3 (1995), Shelter 4 (1996-2007), Home Parenting Scheme - which is now known as Shelter 4 (2007) and Shelter 5 (2001-2006).


Youth Centre (DropZone) 



DropZone is a youth community centre project which aims to develop a membership youth centre, taking after the concept of a second-home, which runs youth related activities in the hope that it becomes a healthy hangout alternative that focuses on the personal development of youth. It seeks to respond to the positive qualities of young people in recognition of their role and contribution to nation building.
It is a drop-in centre to help keep youths from engaging in undesirable activities and to provide self-development opportunities to the underprivileged youths by:

• Providing counselling to troubled youths
   
• Providing wholesome activities (movies, board games)
   
• Developing musical talents (jam sessions with guitars, keyboard and drums)
   
• Providing a positive environment and human mentors/models
   
• Instilling good habits (e.g. making payments for drinks and usage of equipment)
   
• Helping with school work

Group member's
Muna
Sonia
Balqis
Hari Priya