Damansara Perdana Charity Plant Giveaway

the plant giveaway story

During MCO, I started channeling my community building skills towards helping my very own Damansara Perdana Community on FB. While I'm only renting here, I find myself growing more in love with the neighborhood as the days go by. The community suddenly came to life during the lockdown with our very own neighborhood watch cats. Watching out for ambulance, MCO rule-breakers, possible cases, it was crazy. Well since nobody could go out, what else is there to do but watch out for updates happening around the area? It was better than our local newspaper.
major home makeover during MCO

I wanted to share and bring more positivity to the community, hence I started conversations to get to know our neighbors and sharing my love for plants and home makeovers. I met many neighbors and gotten to know all the crazy, rainbow-ful people here!

organized a total of 3 plant group buys for neighbours
(plants delivered to my lobby & we take)

the 1st kedai sayur (plant giveaway) held at my lobby
(cuttings from friend Jane Tung + my own propagations)

From organizing group buys to ordering plants online, I started doing mini plant giveaways at my apartment lobby for neighbors to come by and adopt plants back home. It was jokingly called "kedai sayur" because of my OCD, I lined up the plants in a row like a vegetable shop to be picked.

I would have to thank my neighbors for indulging in my whims' because this has become a positive outlet for me to stay positively (sane) during the lockdown, being all alone. 

Of course, the pandemic has impacted businesses and the livelihood of those around us, and it is then that I felt I should do something to help. I was already in the business of community building so doing this would be second nature to me.

the plant giveaway, a spin-off from my
mini plant giveaway called "kedai sayur"

First, I wanted to continue spreading the green word (plants), secondly, I wanted to help raise awareness and funds for our local animal stray rescue team who has been rescuing and helping the strays such as dogs and cats around DP to be taken care of and rehome (all which needs $$) and lastly, I wanted to help a restaurant business to get the awareness they need by bringing people right to their doorsteps.

So I talked to the stray rescue team person in charge Asther Lau about helping them to raise funds then I spoke to Anthony co-owner of the Crab Shack and he was very supportive. He liked the idea to green up and use his spacious restaurant to help, so much so that he will continue doing this for us should we need his help! He's also a plant parent btw (yay).

check out the Damansara Perdana Stray Rescue here
(this cute donation box was made by Jessy's daughter)


Chef Behzad & Anthony Chan The Crab Shack
graciously hosted our charity event + buffet
(signature Aglio olio & fried rice along with curry chicken)

me preparing my cuttings for the plant giveaway
(easy indoor plants such as snake plants, aloe veras)

So what's left to do? Gather all the plant-loving people who wouldn't mind donating their plants and cuttings for a good cause. Our very own community had a spin-off group during MCO called the DP Dark Green Squad exclusively just to talk about, yes you guessed it - plant stuff. The admins Jessy, Winnie, Jane, and Evangeline were super supportive!

We also rope in neighbors and people from as far as Puchong to help with the cause. A mini volunteer team was created to help me watch over the event. It was beautiful seeing everyone come together.







OMG GUYS! Thank you so much for coming to our DP Plant Giveaway Charity 🌱! We have raised a total of RM2,000 (offline + online) thanks to everyone! 😱😱😱 Many thanks to Dpians, DP Dark Green Squad, @thecrabshackdp and gardeners from far as Kepong who came to support, donate and help! We couldn’t have made it without all of you! Here’s a video of what happened today, along with pics of our donors, plant sifus, adopters and volunteer team ❤️ Again THANK YOU ALL FOR THE LOVE & SUPPORT for helping us raise RM2,000 for @dpstrays 🐈🐕 To those who didn’t get to donate at the event; you can still do so on the online donation page here https://bit.ly/DPStraysRescue 🙌🏻 Special thanks to @glorious_nursery for donating aloe Vera and spider plant cuttings to this charity event!
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What happened at the Charity Plant Giveaway? Watch my video :)

I wanted the plant giveaway to be simple, fuss-free, and honest to goodness charity drive where people take what they need, donate what they can, and love what they bring back.  Though I was so stressed this doesn't turn out well, amazingly through God's grace, everything worked out well if not great on that day. Plant donors came, drop off their plants and cuttings, even gardening tools, soil, and fertilizers. We had a variety of plants so much so that we needed to designate 6 different tables to display them.

the outdoor garden table

viral plants table lol

the cactus & succulent table

cuttings & hydroponics table

recycling glasses as propagation bottles

gardening tools, soil, pots, edible plant table

volunteers, dark green squad, community & restaurant
💖we raised RM2,000 for the stray rescue team 💖

We tried out best to adhere to MCO guidelines as well with a special volunteer just guarding the one entrance into the restaurant while barricading the rest. The crowd was fierce in the morning and we could see the donations rolling in. Still, our dear volunteers Alyaa, Izzati, and Juju guarded the place without complaint. Our hard work was paid off when we saw the smiles and plants being adopted away by our neighbors, and people from neighboring communities who came to support.

Plant sifus stayed around to give advised on how to care or which plants would be suitable for the home. This was truly a team effort from the community.

thank you all for coming to the charity plant giveaway!

So many people involved, so many names to be mention and which I have personally thanks and also posted on each group on Facebook and text. You all know who you are, thank you so much for the love and support towards this charity cause.

I hope this would spark off more joys, and continue to pay it forward. I am already seeing people creating their very own initiatives, helping others, connecting businesses, and spreading more plant love from here (even Crab Shack has adopted this idea to make their space into an event area).

Stay safe, stay humble, stay green 💚

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