"Pie It Forward" Celebrates Malaysia's 60th Anniversary and Stand Pie Me's 3rd Birthday

Sokong teams up with Stand Pie Me to spread joy on Malaysia Day. Young adults with autism make special pies to benefit underserved children.

16 September is Malaysia Day, which for many means not only the geographical and political coming-together of Peninsula Malaya and the two Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak but also the expansion and inclusion of a potpourri of multicultural, multilingual, multiracial flavours of Malaysia's diverse population.

"Malaysia is not just about including ethnic groups, their cultures, and languages but also about including people of special needs and those with difficult and traumatic backgrounds," said Eshwaren M, Sokong's Project Manager.

While communities celebrate their way, Sokong collaborates with the social enterprise Stand Pie Me to treat underserved children with their speciality pies. Eshwaren explained: "The 'Pie It Forward' campaign is a blend of community outreach and empowerment.

"Pies have a universal appeal, symbolizing comfort and care.

"Through this initiative, we aim to share this warmth with children who deserve a special treat.

"The pies come from the skilled hands of young adults with autism, emphasizing our commitment to inclusion and empowerment."

Malaysiakini's crowdfunding platform, Sokong, born from the distress of communities caused by the pandemic, marked by two years of 'movement control orders' of varying periods that restricted and even banned movements of the population, has joined hands with Stand Pie Me, which runs a bakery staffed mainly by young adults with autism.

"The idea is to gift underserved children with pies from Stand Pie Me, a gift of one charity to recipients of other charities in the unifying spirit of Malaysia Day," said Eshwaren.

Stand Pie Me, a Sokong beneficiary, is a social enterprise under Persatuan STAND, an abbreviation for Skills, Talents, Acceptance, Needs, and Destiny.

Stand Pie Me operates a bakery in Puchong, making pies, quiches, and apple crumble while providing training and employment to young adults with special needs, such as autism.

"Our purpose is to enable special needs youth to acquire the necessary skills to earn a living as an employee and work towards self-reliance," said Persatuan STAND's Chairperson, Sarjit Singh.

"Food production is ideal for adults living with autism because they are very good at repetitive work," said Sarjit, who hails from the Food and Beverage industry.

What began as parents with autistic children getting together to teach their children the art of baking as an activity that would stimulate their minds and provide physical exercise through kneading, rolling dough, and measuring the filling and weight of each pie grew from a cottage-type effort into an operational bakery. The onset of the pandemic in 2020 put a halt to their initiative.

Like many food operations, they began marketing their pies online between the Movement Control Orders (MCO) periods.

They had been baking from homes and the premises of their Church, but when the MCO ended, they moved to rented premises.

"As a social enterprise, we want to expand and bake more pies, but we are also limited in our ability to increase sales.

"There is always a cost to sales," Sarjit said.

"Initiatives like Pie It Forward from Sokong certainly help drive our production and revenue up, even if only for this limited time.

"But we are hoping that donors to this Malaysia Day campaign will continue buying our pies and help towards the sustainability of Stand Pie Me," Sarjit added.

"16 September is our third anniversary. Our staff are excited to participate in this Malaysia Day campaign," Sarjit said.

"For Stand Pie Me, Pie It Forward is a double joy for us; our anniversary and that of Malaysia's too," he added.

Will Sokong explore campaigns with the other beneficiaries onboarded? "Absolutely!" Eshwaren exclaimed.

"Sokong's ethos revolves around community support and creating meaningful impacts.

"Pie It Forward" is one of our first initiatives. We are constantly brainstorming and developing new and innovative ways to engage with our beneficiaries and the larger community.

"We believe in evolving and adapting to the needs of those we serve, so our beneficiaries can certainly anticipate more such initiatives in the future that resonate with our mutual goals," Eshwaren said.

The campaign ends on 25 September, and the target is to bake approximately 290 pieces of pies that will be delivered to selected beneficiaries on 29 September. Support the Pie It Forward intiative now.