Celebrating our people - Joanne Loh 

Deloitte SEA has many amazing people.  As we celebrate our 175th Anniversary this year, we want to highlight some of our people who are passionate about helping their communities. We speak to Joanne Loh, Deloitte Malaysia Consulting Contracts Manager, on her passion in giving back to the community through active volunteering.

1.      Please describe the volunteering that you do and with which organisations?

Back in 2017, I participated in Deloitte’s Impact Day, where I volunteered at The National Autism Society of Malaysia (NASOM) centre, and helped to clean the centre and create activities for the children there.

I am also an active volunteer in community efforts outside of Deloitte. Some of my personal community involvement are as follow:

•  I raised over MYR 1000 during the Standard Chartered Marathon 2019 for Hospis Malaysia
•  I volunteered as a checkpoint person for the Zero Decibel A Philanthropic Run 2019
•  I have also been providing food assistance to various animal shelters as well as dedicating my time in feeding the strays especially during this COVID-19 period 

2.      Why did you decide to do this and why is it important to you?

I decided to do this as I believe that if we are able-bodied, we should help the less fortunate communities as much as we can.

It is important to me because during this day and age, where society becomes more reliant on technology and social media, more people are disconnecting from human emotions and interactions. This results in fewer people caring for each other. I feel that it is meaningful to show compassion to any being (be it human or animal) and spread love, to let them know that they are cared for and they are not alone.

3.      When did you start doing this? ​

I started volunteering on an adhoc basis since I was young but I have become more active since I started working at Deloitte. This is because Deloitte offers us the opportunity to make an impact that matters within our community through initiatives such as Impact Day.  

4.      Please share how your volunteering helps the community? 

I helped Hospis Malaysia to raise money for them to provide care to the elderly. 

I also helped to ease the financial burden and labour shortages in various non-profit animal shelters in Selangor and Penang (my hometown). 

5.      Would you encourage other Deloitte staff to also volunteer to the community and if so, why?

Yes, I would encourage everyone to do so, as without compassion and love, we live in a very disconnected and cold world.