USJ residents come together for Family Day

The Star
Thursday June 24, 2010

By JADE CHAN
jade@thestar.com.my
Photos by DARRAN TAN

IT WAS quite a sight to see a group of young children scrambling around the MPSJ field as they attempted to catch chickens at the inaugural USJ Family Day.

Besides “catch the chicken”, the children also enjoyed interactive sessions with a fire truck, fire-extinguishing demonstrations, balloon sculptures, bouncy castles, carnival games and a football clinic.

Other activities include telematches, clown show, sand art craft, face painting, flea market, free health screening, blood donation, performances by local groups, as well as two football exhibition matches for an Under-15 group (Brazil Football Centre vs Subang Jaya Community Football Club) and veterans (Brazil Football Centre vs JKP Zone 3 Team).

Several stalls had been set up on the field offering a variety of food and drinks, as well as products and services by sponsors.

Aspiring footballers: A free football clinic for boys and girls under 15.

The Star’s Circulation Department manned a booth offering special subscription rates to those who signed up at the event, while JKP Zone 3 had a recruitment drive for the community’s volunteer patrolling unit (VPU) and voter registration.

The USJ Family Day was the largest-scale event organised thus far by the MPSJ’s JKP Zone 3 (comprising USJ 2-15).

It was aimed at fostering family and community ties, and featured a host of fun activities for the family.

Subang Jaya assemblyman Hannah Yeoh, who launched the event, congratulated the JKP Zone 3 for organising an event focusing on the core subject of everyone’s heart — family, and hoped the residents would take the opportunity to get to know their neighbours.

Playing fire fighter: The children had a great time clambering up and down the fire truck, as well as sitting behind the wheel of the truck.

“From the past events that we’ve had, there have been requests for activities where the residents from various neighbourhoods can mingle and communicate with one another.

“I hope there will be more cross-border events like today’s Family Day to foster closer relationships.

MPSJ councillor and JKP Zone 3 chairman Rajiv Rishyakaran said: “We managed to organise the event on a RM20,000 budget, which included a RM10,000 allocation from Yeoh’s office, contributions by sponsors and part of our JKP allocation.

“It took us about six months to plan and execute the event, and we wouldn’t mind making the Family Day a yearly affair,” he said.

In his speech, Rajiv introduced the JKP concept to the residents and urged them to sign up for the VPU to work together with the police to keep their neighbourhood safe.

Numerous lucky draw gifts were given away, including shopping vouchers, food vouchers, Famous Amos hampers, a set of four Goodyear tyres, and pre-loaded Touch ‘n Go cards.

To mark the launch of the “No Plastic Bag Day” campaign in USJ, 500 reusable bags filled with vouchers were given away to the first 500 families who registered upon arrival.