The continuity of the economic and monetary crisis in Indonesia had impacted its people socially, culturally and even morally. The crisis had brought down the economic growth and degrading the welfare of the people nationwide.
The underpaid working class family had to face the increasing difficulties in sustaining the nutritional needs and the educational cost for their children. This condition is worsened by the fact that many multinational companies collapsed during this time of crisis, resulting in an uncontrollable growth of unemployment.
In the slum areas throughout Indonesia, the state of health and growth condition of the children and toddlers are frightening. The increase of malnutrition and the uprising of many contagious diseases and pestilences have come to an alarming state.
To make matters worse, series of natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes, tsunami and forestfires continuously hit various parts of Indonesia, paralyzing the economy and creating desperation and the lost of hope for the people of Indonesia.
In the midst of this difficult time and turbulence; and in order to provide humanitarian aids for those who needs a helping hand as well as to rescue the victims of natural disasters and to help them resume their life, ReachOut Foundation in cooperation with Yayasan SoeryaDharma Sejahtera was established by Judith Soeryadjaya, supported her late father, William Soeryadjaya, who was the founding father of a professionally run conglomerate company, which became one of the first multibillion dollars locally managed multinational company, PT Astra International.
ReachOut Foundation in co-operation with Yayasan SoeryaDharma Sejahtera was established with a preliminary intention to become a trustworthy and credible medium for companies and organizations, including those under the leadership of Judith Soeryadjaya, to give back to the society.
With the motto “To reach out to those who are in need, one by one with love and compassion”, ReachOut Foundation has been answering the calls of our brothers and sisters with those needs in many parts of Indonesia and simultaneously working to improve education for the children to create qualified and reliable future generations.
ReachOut Foundation in cooperation with various ambassadors family for Indonesia coordinating with IDI (Ikatan Dokter Indonesia - Indonesian Medical Association) to mobilise aid in terms of food and medicines to the flood victims that happened to Jakarta in that year.
Tsunami hit Aceh in December 2004 causing the death of over 200.000 people and leaving over 1 million people injured and homeless. ReachOut Foundation in Cooperation with Yayasan SoeryaDharma Sejahtera set up a team called Operation Aceh Care to collect donation in Jakarta and send help to he tsunami victims in Aceh.
Sending food and medical supply to the flood victims in Deli Serdang, North Sumatera. Covering the medical procedure and operation of a baby found in Aceh in June 2005. The baby named Suci was suffering from Hydrocephalus, which is a disease caused by birth defect. Her family was living in poverty so it was impossible for them to medically treat Suci. We flew her to Jakarta and put her in Ciptomangunkusumo Hospital (a government owned research hospital) to undergo the procedures and operation.
The huge earthquake happened in Yogyakarta, Central Java in May 2006 with a magnitude of 6.3 Richter scale. The quake caused 5,782 deaths, while 36,299 people were injured, 135,000 houses damaged, and an estimated 1.5 million left homeless. ReachOut Foundation in Cooperation with Yayasan SoeryaDharma set up a team to collect donation and sending emergency aid to Yogyakarta.
Providing 6 tons of rice for the Special Force Army (KOPASSUS) during Idul Fitri celebration in Jakarta Education support by giveaway school equipment and medical assistance in Cilincing, North Jakarta
Improving living facilities for the association of the home industry workers for jewelry crafters, Mutumanikam in Cariu, West Java working under the supervision of the first lady, Mrs. Ani Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Providing food and medical assistance for the Earthquake victims in Garut, West Java
The famine in Sumba, Nusa Tenggara Timur that happened in February hit thousands of households. ReachOut Foundation in cooperation with Yayasan SoeryaDharma Sejahtera gathered a team to help the victims by distributing primary food supply for them tourvive the dry season while communicating on what should be done to help further in order to avoid the same problem from happening again.
Right before Lebaran 2011, ReachOut Foundation In-Cooperation with Yayasan SoeryaDharma Sejahtera supported by Kodim 0703 Gunung Kidul Yogyakarta, dustributed primary and secondary food supply to 5000 people in Gunung Kidul area. These area were badly affected by the dry season as the contour condition consist of 90% mountain limestone. It was in one of the worst conditions in Indonesia as a result, the suicide rate was very high and malnurtition was in alarming stage
ReachOut Foundation began to focus on early childhood development. With an overall goal of helping 1 million children affected by poverty throughout Indonesia the organization began by building early childhood education schools. By focusing on the young generation, ReachOut Foundation hopes to affect lasting change throughout Indonesia for decades to come.
ReachOut Foundation opened seven PAUD schools in Jakarta and plans to open three additional schools this year. We are also working with our partners in Papua to establish our first PAUD SuryaKasih in the West Papua province.
ReachOut Foundation working side by side with Yayasan SoeryaDharma Sejahtera was born at the time when Indonesia was in the midst of a long suffering economic crisis and was continuously hit by a storm of natural disasters. It was heart breaking to see this nation’s struggle even only from the television at our homes.
Watching and observing what happened to the people in this country have moved our hearts to form a foundation that can hopefully help them anyway we can. Therefore, we are very grateful to our compassionate God Almighty for letting us form this foundation, which enable us and other organizations to collaborate in taking action to help and to save the underprivileged people and victims of natural disasters. Based on this commitment, we have established our motto “To reach out to those who are in needs... one by one with love and compassion”.
We are hoping with the presence of ReachOut Foundation together with Yayasan SoeryaDharma Sejahtera, we all can go hand in hand bringing the people of our nation to the better because together we can provide hope to the hopeless, changing the world one step at a time. Let us all love not just in words, but also in action and truth. God be with us in all our endeavors!
