Dr. Henry Pillai

A Lifetime Humanitarian at Heart
Dr. Henry Pillai

Founder’s Biography

Born in the post-war years of 1946, Dr Henry Pillai has dedicated his life to feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and helping the poor, the rejected, and the abandoned in society.

Dr Henry’s compassion comes from a place of having walked in the shoes of people who need help. He witnessed the healing and renewal that is birthed in countless lives when they are given unconditional love, acceptance, and support.

Dr Henry has experienced what it is like to be rejected and unwanted as a child
(please see Founder’s Personal Message). Upon finishing his secondary school education, Dr Henry worked in different jobs including being a storekeeper for the Marine Department, where he’d deliver goods and food to various outposts.

In 1972, he took up a position as a young minister where he often visited the poor and needy in impoverished parts of Port Klang. Many of the families lived in shacks where the children had no shoes or books.

An elderly man turned up on his doorstep one day, and begged him to take care of him so that he could live his last days in dignity instead of deprivation, where he was alone and abandoned out in the streets. Dr Henry opened his home to the old man and cared for him until his death.

He went on to rent a house for similarly destitute men and women in Klang, Selangor. Realising that a source of homelessness is in substance abuse, Dr Henry started a drug and rehabilitation centre followed by the first of 5 orphanages called Rumah Kids also in Klang, as a safe place for abandoned or neglected children. The Welfare Department also referred abandoned, ailing old folks dumped in hospitals to him.

As the needs of the community kept growing over the years, Dr Henry established a Food Bank in 2002 to provide feeding programmes to families and communities, which also enabled individuals and corporations to make donations of groceries and other foodstuff. The Food Bank provides essential food items to 400 families per month. Additionally, Grace Community Services (GCS) serves 1,600 meals a day through its network that consists of four orphanages; a home for the destitute; a home for unwed mothers; a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre, and a street feeding programme.

 The ever growing needs led to the creation of Grace Community Services in 1990 include:
  • Home for the Destitute Women, Elderly Widows and Abused Wives
  • Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation Centre
  • Orphanage for the Abused and Abandoned Children
  • New Horizon (activities and support for senior citizens)
  • Birthright Home for Unwed Mothers with Unplanned Pregnancies
    • Food Bank and a Feeding Programme
    • Mental Health Counseling and Psychotherapy
    • Clothing Bank
    • Music for Life (creative arts resource centre for underprivileged children)
    • Free Medical Clinic For the Poor
      The works of Grace Community Services have changed countless lives and it is due to many men and women who have answered the call for help. If you would like to serve the poor and needy in our society, please get in touch with us.

      How We Got To Where We Are Today...

      The Journey of Grace Community Services
      With a passion to help the marginalized, Dr. Henry Pillai at the young age of 26 started a full-time lifetime mission committed to an ever expanding number and range of humanitarian works. Today, he continues to play a central role as a visionary leader.

      1972

      Where It All Started

      Dr. Henry began with a simple step of faith to go where the need is - and that place was the slums of Pandamaran, Port Klang. There, he ministered to the poor and needy in the community, and collected used clothes and shoes for them.

      1976

      Mending A Broken Life

      Mending A Broken Life

      Dr. Henry met an elderly Indian man sleeping on the road at the entrance of the church. The man grabbed his leg and told him he was going to die and had no family to bury him.

      Filled with compassion over the plight of the man, Dr. Henry took him into his home. He gave the man a bath, food, and started caring for him, including cataract and leg surgeries. As a result, the man lived for another few years and when he passed away, Dr. Henry buried him as he had earlier asked

      1988

      Grace Center

      Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation Centre
      Grace Centre is all about second chances and turning lives around. Its main mission is to help individuals who have been crippled by drug and alcohol addiction to stand on their own two feet and face the world again without fear or shame.

      More than 1000 drug and alcohol addicts joined Grace Centre and out of this number, at least one-third has successfully completed the programme and is currently restored to their families and society. Pusat Grace is registered with the Agensi Dadah Kebangsaan
      Negeri Selangor.

      1991

      Kanak-Kanak Ini DiSayangi

      Rumah K.I.D.S
      (Kanak-Kanak Ini DiSayangi)

      Home for the Orphans, Abused, Abandoned and
      Neglected Children.
      Rumah K.I.D.S shelters more than 70 children in four separate homes and has housed, fed and nurtured over 300+ children.

      A high number of children who come to Rumah K.I.D.S fall under this jurisdiction of ‘abuse.’ If not orphaned through natural circumstances, they have suffered either physical ill-treatment or abandonment at the hands of those closest to them. The long-term physical and physiological repercussions of either neglect or children cyclical in nature. Hurting children tend to grow up emulating the behavior of their parents, repeating the pattern of rejection and abuse. It is the mission of Rumah K.I.D.S to break this vicious cycle of rejection and abuse through love, acceptance, care and compassion.

      1999

      Birthright

      Home for Unwed Mothers with
      Unplanned Pregnancies
      With the belief that it is the right of every pregnant woman to give birth and the right for every child to be born. This service ensures that unborn children, especially of unplanned and unwanted pregnancies, are brought safely into the world, and given the love and shelter they need. This home cares and provides for the unwed and single mothers while assisting them in medical aid, legal advice and counselling services.
      Birthright is registered under the Akta Pusat Jagaan 1993 as Pusat Jagaan Birthright. Over the years, Birthright has rescued more than 75 babies and aided more than 75 women between the ages of 16 and 35 from different races and religious backgrounds.

      Birthright was officially launched by Y. Bhg. Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir on 31st March, 2002.

      2004

      Winter Relief Campaign

      Spread The Warmth

      Winter Relief Campaign
      ‘Spread the Warmth’ Winter Relief Campaign for Afghanistan collected four tonnes of winter clothing equivalent to 16,000 pieces of clothing to help women, children survive the war-torn Afghanistan’s winter. This campaign included shipping containers of winter clothing's by sea to Pakistan earthquake survivors.

      Campaign partnership with Irwan Shah Bin Abdullah @ DJ Dave, Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat Negeri Selangor, MBF Cards (M’sia), Viva Esprit, Telekom Malaysia (TM) and Herboldt Bros Seafood Ltd by Grace Community Services.

      2005

      Music For Life

      Music For Life

      Resource Centre for Creative Arts for
      Underprivileged Children.
      Music for life was set up to enable underprivileged children and young people in the community to develop their musical talents and skills. The aim is to raise their quality of life by empowering them through music.
      Lifetime Humanitarian Award Finalist

      Dr. Henry Pillai

      Lifetime Humanitarian Award Finalist
      Music for life was set up to enable underprivileged children and young people in the community to develop their musical talents and skills. The aim is to raise their quality of life by empowering them through music.

      2012

      Officially Launch Of GCS Headquarters In Klang, Selangor

      Official Launch Of GCS Headquarters
      In Klang, Selangor

      L-R = Dr. Henry Pillai, Y. Bhg. Senator Datuk Seri idris Jala, Y. Bhg. Datin Alicia Tiah

      Grace Community Services building was contributed by TA Enterprise as part of their corporate social responsibility efforts and was officially launched by Y. Bhg. Senator Datuk Seri Idris Jala, Minister in Prime Minister’s Department together with Y. Bhg. Datin Alicia Tiah, Managing Director of TA Enterprise on 10 March 2012.

      2022

      Dr. Henry Pillai

      Successful People in Malaysia
      The biographical encyclopaedia by British Publishing House Ltd, which is available in the National Library of Malaysia and Singapore, recognises accomplished Malaysians who have contributed towards nation-building and the society.

      1974

      Education Lifeline for the Poor Children

      Dr. Henry gave free nightly Math and English tuition classes in hopes of helping the children who could not afford to pay for tuition, nor attend school. People heard what Dr. Henry was doing and started donating books, food and clothes.

      1980

      Grace Home

      Home For The Destitute Women
      A year later, Dr. Henry came across several elderly people living in the Chinese cemetery amongst them were women in their 70s to 80s from China with harrowing tales: they had been brought over to the country when they were little children to work as servants and later on, as nannies. In their old age, they had no one to turn to, no place to live, and no means to support themselves. Dr. Henry decided to rent a house in Port Klang and these women were taken in and cared for. This is the beginning of Grace Home.
      Grace Home Opening
      In 1996, Grace Home was registered as a non-profit charitable organization in line with government regulations and became officially known as Persatuan Kebajikan Rumah Grace Klang.

      Grace Home was officially launched by YB Dato Teh Chang Ying on 21st October, 2000.

      Grace Home has rescued over 2000+ destitute women.

      1990

      Incorporation of Grace Community Services (GCS)

      Grace Community Services (GCS) was founded to better administer the fast expanding spectrum of social works established to meet the urgent needs of the community. Amongst the works added to GCS fold of relief services were food banks, feeding programme to feed the poor and hungry, clothing banks, including a medical clinic, a mental health counseling clinic, and a safe-house for women with unplanned pregnancies.

      1998

      New Horizon

      New Horizon

      Special Welfare Activities for Senior Citizens
      A community project to establish a support group for the senior citizens through once-a-month social activity. It organises social gatherings, trips and excursions to places of interest, conducting - in - house activities to bring wholesome fun into their golden years. This project has attracted more than 200 senior citizens every month. It is exciting to see at each outing that five to six busloads of them participate in healthy activities outdoors.

      New Horizon was officially launched by Y. Bhg. Charles Santiago, Member of Parliament for Klang on 6th March, 2010.

      2002

      Grace Community Services KL

      Grace Community Services KL

      Centre for Feeding the Poor, Counseling and Medical Care
      The building was officially launched by Y. Bhg. Dato Sayed A. Rahman, Ketua Pengarah Kebajikan Masyarakat on
      9th July, 2002.

      Feeding Programme for the Poor

      Free Warm Meals for the Street People, Hard-Core Poor, Immigrants and Refugees
      Our centre in the heart of Kuala Lumpur functions as a food distribution centre for the poor, homeless, migrants and refugees who find it increasingly difficult to have a decent meal in view of the rising cost of living. Every Sunday, over 400 packs of hot meals and drinks are given out to the poor.

      The centre in Kuala Lumpur also provides bathing facilities, an opportunity to have showers, shave and change into clean clothes at our clothing bank. We approach the poor where they are and make no judgments and we emphasize treating people with dignity and respect no matter where they are in life.
      Mental Health Counseling And Psychotheraphy

      Mental Health Counseling
      And Psychotherapy

      Free and Confidential Emotional and Social Support
      for the Poor
      A place of care and concern to those who are struggling with social and emotional needs; be it marital problems, addiction, depression or a sense of hopelessness. Our dedicated volunteer counsellors and psychologist give the much needed support and guidance to help struggling city dwellers navigate the stressful demands. Through counseling, those with special needs can also be referred to the various social and community centers operated by
      Grace Community Services.
      Grace Food Bank

      Grace Food Bank

      Food Collection and Distribution Center for the Poor
      The Food Bank was set up with the primary objective of providing basic food to charitable homes, rehabilitation centres, feeding centres, poor families and individuals. Foods that would otherwise be wasted and discarded are rescued and channeled to the underprivileged via the Food Bank to feed the hungry
      and hard-core poor.

      Grace Food Bank provides an average of 400 families per month.

      Food Bank for the Poor was officially launched by Y. Bhg. Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun, Deputy Minister of Women, Family and Community Development in collaboration with Yeo Hiap Seng, CEO, Mr Owen Ow and Taylor’s College on 23rd August, 2009.

      2007

      Clinic For The Poor

      Clinic For The Poor

      Free Basic Medical Care
      Clinic For the Poor provides free medical care for the hard-core poor, refugees and individuals without documentation in Kuala Lumpur. With the opening of the Clinic for the Poor, those who cannot afford to see a doctor can benefit from basic medical care, obtain medication for minor ailments, and be referred to government hospitals in the event of serious illness. The clinic is staffed by olunteer doctors, medical specialists, and nurses who tend to patients on a weekly basis.

      Clinic for the Poor was officially launched by
      Y. Bhg. Dato Chua Jui Meng, former Minister of Health on
      22nd January, 2007.

      1972

      Where It All Started

      It all began with a simple step of faith to go where the need is. It all served the poor and needy i. Dr. Henry sesaw how poor the people were. Their clothes were tor nand nin the slums of Port Klang. There he saw how poor the people were. Their clothes were torn and they had no food. Dr. Henry collected scond-hanecond-hand clothes and shoes to clothe the community of poor children and families.

      1974

      Education Lifeline for the Poor Children

      Dr. Henry gave free nightly Math and English tuition classes in hopes of helpinga the children who could not afford to pay for tuition, nor attend school. People heard what Dr. Henry was doing and started donating books, food and clothes.

      1976

      Mending A Broken Life

      Mending A Broken Life

      Dr. Henry met an elderly Indian man sleeping on the road at the entrance of the church. The man grabbed his leg and told him he was going to die and had no family to bury him.

      Filled with compassion over the plight of the man, Dr. Henry took him into his home. He gave the man a bath, food, and started caring for him, including cataract and leg surgeries. As a result, the man lived for another few years and when he passed away, Dr. Henry buried him as he had earlier asked

      1980

      Grace Home

      Home For The Destitute Women
      A year later, Dr. Henry came across several elderly people living in the Chinese cemetery amongst them were women in their 70s to 80s from China with harrowing tales: they had been brought over to the country when they were little children to work as servants and later on, as nannies. In their old age, they had no one to turn to, no place to live, and no means to support themselves. Dr. Henry decided to rent a house in Port Klang and these women were taken in and cared for. This is the beginning of Grace Home.
      In 1996, Grace Home was registered as a non-profit charitable organization in line with government regulations and became officially known as Persatuan Kebajikan Rumah Grace Klang.

      Grace Home was officially launched by YB Dato Teh Chang Ying on 21st October, 2000.

      Grace Home has rescued over 2000+ destitute women.

      1988

      Grace Center

      Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation Centre
      Grace Centre is all about second chances and turning lives around. Its main mission is to help individuals who have been crippled by drug and alcohol addiction to stand on their own two feet and face the world again without fear or shame.

      More than 1000 drug and alcohol addicts joined Grace Centre and out of this number, at least one-third has successfully completed the programme and is currently restored to their families and society. Pusat Grace is registered with the Agensi Dadah Kebangsaan
      Negeri Selangor.

      1990

      Incorporation of Grace Community Services (GCS)

      Grace Community Services (GCS) was founded to better administer the fast expanding spectrum of social works established to meet the urgent needs of the community. Amongst the works added to GCS fold of relief services were food banks, feeding programme to feed the poor and hungry, clothing banks, including a medical clinic, a mental health counseling clinic, and a safe-house for women with unplanned pregnancies.

      1991

      Kanak-Kanak Ini DiSayangi

      Rumah K.I.D.S
      (Kanak-Kanak Ini DiSayangi)

      Home for the Orphans, Abused, Abandoned and Neglected Children.
      Rumah K.I.D.S shelters more than 70 children in four separate homes and has housed, fed and nurtured over 500+ children.

      A high number of children who come to Rumah K.I.D.S fall under this jurisdiction of ‘abuse.’ If not orphaned through natural circumstances, they have suffered either physical ill-treatment or abandonment at the hands of those closest to them. The long-term physical and physiological repercussions of either neglect or children cyclical in nature. Hurting children tend to grow up emulating the behavior of their parents, repeating the pattern of rejection and abuse. It is the mission of Rumah K.I.D.S to break this vicious cycle of rejection and abuse through love, acceptance, care and compassion.

      1998

      New Horizon

      New Horizon

      Special Welfare Activities for Senior Citizens
      A community project to establish a support group for the senior citizens through once-a-month social activity. It organises social gatherings, trips and excursions to places of interest, conducting - in - house activities to bring wholesome fun into their golden years. This project has attracted more than 200 senior citizens every month. It is exciting to see at each outing that five to six busloads of them participate in healthy activities outdoors.

      New Horizon was officially launched by Y. Bhg. Charles Santiago, Member of Parliament for Klang on 6th March, 2010.

      1999

      Birthright

      Home for Unwed Mothers with
      Unplanned Pregnancies
      With the belief that it is the right of every pregnant woman to give birth and the right for every child to be born. This service ensures that unborn children, especially of unplanned and unwanted pregnancies, are brought safely into the world, and given the love and shelter they need. This home cares and provides for the unwed and single mothers while assisting them in medical aid, legal advice and counselling services.
      Birthright is registered under the Akta Pusat Jagaan 1993 as Pusat Jagaan Birthright. Over the years, Birthright has rescued more than 75 babies and aided more than 75 women between the ages of 16 and 35 from different races and religious backgrounds.

      Birthright was officially launched by Y. Bhg. Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir on 31st March, 2002.

      2002

      Grace Community Services KL

      Grace Community Services KL

      Centre for Feeding the Poor, Counseling and Medical Care
      The building was officially launched by Y. Bhg. Dato Sayed A. Rahman, Ketua Pengarah Kebajikan Masyarakat on
      9th July, 2002.

      Feeding Programme for the Poor

      Free Warm Meals for the Street People, Hard-Core Poor, Immigrants and Refugees
      Our centre in the heart of Kuala Lumpur functions as a food distribution centre for the poor, homeless, migrants and refugees who find it increasingly difficult to have a decent meal in view of the rising cost of living. Every Sunday, over 400 packs of hot meals and drinks are given out to the poor.

      The centre in Kuala Lumpur also provides bathing facilities, an opportunity to have showers, shave and change into clean clothes at our clothing bank. We approach the poor where they are and make no judgments and we emphasize treating people with dignity and respect no matter where they are in life.
      Mental Health Counseling And Psychotheraphy

      Mental Health Counseling
      And Psychotherapy

      Free Warm Meals for the Street People, Hard-Core Poor, Immigrants and Refugees
      A place of care and concern to those who are struggling with social and emotional needs; be it marital problems, addiction, depression or a sense of hopelessness. Our dedicated volunteer counsellors and psychologist give the much needed support and guidance to help struggling city dwellers navigate the stressful demands. Through counseling, those with special needs can also
      be referred to the various social and community centers operated by Grace Community Services.
      Grace Food Bank

      Grace Food Bank

      Food Collection and Distribution Center for the Poor
      The Food Bank was set up with the primary objective of providing basic food to charitable homes, rehabilitation centres, feeding centres, poor families and individuals. Foods that would otherwise be wasted and discarded are rescued and channeled to the underprivileged via the Food Bank to feed the hungry
      and hard-core poor.

      Grace Food Bank provides an average of 400 families per month.

      Food Bank for the Poor was officially launched by Y. Bhg. Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun, Deputy Minister of Women, Family and Community Development in collaboration with Yeo Hiap Seng, CEO, Mr Owen Ow and Taylor’s College on 23rd August, 2009.

      2004

      Winter Relief Campaign

      Spread The Warmth

      Winter Relief Campaign
      ‘Spread the Warmth’ Winter Relief Campaign for Afghanistan collected four tonnes of winter clothing equivalent to 16,000 pieces of clothing to help women, children survive the war-torn Afghanistan’s winter. This campaign included shipping containers of winter clothing's by sea to Pakistan earthquake survivors.

      Campaign partnership with Irwan Shah Bin Abdullah @ DJ Dave, Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat Negeri Selangor, MBF Cards (M’sia), Viva Esprit, Telekom Malaysia (TM) and Herboldt Bros Seafood Ltd by Grace Community Services.

      2005

      Music For Life

      Music For Life

      Music for life was set up to enable underprivileged children and young people in the community to develop their musical talents and skills. The aim is to raise their quality of life by empowering them through music.
      Lifetime Humanitarian Award Finalist

      Dr. Henry Pillai

      Lifetime Humanitarian Award Finalist
      PricewaterhouseCoopers Malaysia NSTP - PwC Malaysian Humanitarian Award

      2007

      Clinic For The Poor

      Clinic For The Poor

      Free Basic Medical Care
      Clinic For the Poor provides free medical care for the hard-core poor, refugees and individuals without documentation in Kuala Lumpur. With the opening of the Clinic for the Poor, those who cannot afford to see a doctor can benefit from basic medical care, obtain medication for minor ailments, and be referred to government hospitals in the event of serious illness. The clinic is staffed by olunteer doctors, medical specialists, and nurses who tend to patients on a weekly basis.

      Clinic for the Poor was officially launched by
      Y. Bhg. Dato Chua Jui Meng, former Minister of Health on
      22nd January, 2007.

      2012

      Officially Launch Of GCS Headquarters In Klang, Selangor

      Officially Launch
      Of GCS Headquarters
      In Klang, Selangor

      L-R = Dr. Henry Pillai, Y. Bhg. Senator Datuk Seri idris Jala, Y. Bhg. Datin Alicia Tiah

      Grace Community Services building was contributed by TA Enterprise as part of their corporate social responsibility efforts and was officially launched by Y. Bhg. Senator Datuk Seri Idris Jala, Minister in Prime Minister’s Department together with Y. Bhg. Datin Alicia Tiah, Managing Director of TA Enterprise on 10 March 2012.

      2022

      Dr. Henry Pillai

      Successful People in Malaysia
      The biographical encyclopaedia by British Publishing House Ltd, which is available in the National Library of Malaysia and Singapore, recognises accomplished Malaysians who have contributed towards nation-building and the society.

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