Give Them Hope
Give Them Peace
Give Them Love
Give Them Compassion
For
A
Better
Tomorrow
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Hope Peace Love Compassion Charity (HPLCC)
Making a Little Difference
Hope Peace Love Compassion Charity (HPLCC) is a not-for-profit organization incorporated in the District of Columbia in 2007 to provide opportunities and help to the needy, underprivileged and impoverished children and seniors in various countries. HPLCC hopes to make a little difference in the lives of these children and seniors and to show them a little love and hope for a better tomorrow.
HPLCC was founded in 2007 by Lawrence Tan, a native of Kuching, Sarawak (Borneo), Malaysia. Mr. Tan, like many other bright and ambitious youths, after working very hard, very long hours and saving for many years left Malaysia at the age of 22 to attend the university in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. After obtaining his undergraduate degree in Business Administration in 1984, he moved to Washington DC and received his MBA. In December 1989 he opened the first fine dining Malaysian restaurant in the USA, the “Straits of Malaya” and later the sister establishment "Larry's Lounge". On the day after opening his restaurant in Washington, D.C., newspapers throughout Malaysia carried a story with the headline: “ Sarawakian Does KL Proud in Washington.”
Over the years, the idea of establishing a charitable organization to help children and seniors who live a life from which Mr. Tan emerged, has been cooking in his mind. Mr. Tan, on reaching the age 50, decided that it was time for him to provide opportunities to many needy and underprivileged children who, like him, did not have the means and opportunities available to many children and youth in Malaysia and other countries.
He began to explore how he could best be of service. In January 2005, he and a colleague, Ken Megill, who became a fellow board member of HPLCC, visited the Borneo Child Aid Society, located in Sabah, Malaysia, the neighbor to his home State of Sarawak. The organization was formed in 1991. Originally it was sponsored by a European non-profit organization, Humana-Holland, until 1998 the sponsorship was taken over by the Malaysian Company Hap Seng Consolidated's Gek Poh Foundation. This organization provides educational opportunities to the children of temporary workers, primarily from Indonesia and the Philippines, who work in palm oil plantations under a Malaysian guest worker program.
Although the workers in the plantations have work permits, thousands of children born on the plantations have no legal status and since they live in remote areas far away from schools, they have no access to the educational system.
During the visit in January, 2005, Mr. Tan and Mr. Megill were welcomed with open arms by the children and administrators of the organization. They returned from their visit with renewed commitment to establish a non-profit organization that can assist children such as those they met.
In 2006, Mr. Tan and Mr. Megill visited an orphanage, the Ti-Ratana Welfare Society, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This organization was founded by a venerable Buddhist monk who recently passed away and is now headed by the Chief Monk of Malayasia . As part of his work, he established community centers that include homes for needy children, seniors and homeless women. This is a community centre created for the betterment of lives; A centre of hope, sharing and growth that caters to the needs of children, young people and senior citizens regardless of race or creed.
The visits to Sabah in 2005 and Kuala Lumpur in 2006 solidified Mr. Tan's desire to develop an organization that can work with and provide assistance to youth and elderly in cooperation with organizations such as the Borneo Child Aid Society and the Ti-Ratana Welfare Society. HPLCC may, for example, sponsor youth from these societies.
HPLCC is committed to providing direct assistance to children and youth of such who do not have parents who can provide them with support and seniors who do not have children or other family members to assist them. HPLCC will work directly with the youth and seniors, many of whom are housed in orphanages and other institutions; to provide opportunities for these children and seniors that the homes and families cannot provide.
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