Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Metta Charity Walk cum Family Carnival 2009

7 June 2009

This is the third year that I'm volunteering at this event, and the second time with my family. Metta Charity Walk cum Family Carnival 2009 is an annual event held to raise funds for the Metta Welfare Association. The event starts with a charity walk by the Guest-of-Honour, who happens to be Ms Jessica Tan Soon Neo, MP for East Coast GRC, same as last year.

After the charity walk, participants as well as members of the public will use the coupons to purchase food and other items from the various stalls lined all around the Metta School compound. These food and products are brought in by sponsors, hence all shoppers are actually donors on this day.

I was accompanied by my Mother, my maternal aunt, my paternal aunt and her daughter. Some of us had volunteered last year, so we were experienced in a sense. We were assigned to sell the same products and we finally got to meet the business owner. She told us that she was supposed to come last year but had other appointments.

Mother unpacked the Lavender products with experience:

Setting up the booth:

I had to emcee an event, so I left the carnival for about 2 hours. When I returned, I was impressed by my cousin who was actively promoting the sale of the products. It is a real-life practical lesson on business skills.

Everything seemed to be the same. Even though I don't know many of the staff and volunteers, I could recall seeing many of them in previous years. There was even a family that came to our booth and asked for the same products we had sold them last year!

All in all, we managed to help raise more than S$1,000 for charity, an amount comparable to that of 2008. This is despite of the economic downturn.

Parting off with the shop owner, we all said, "See you next year!" And yes, we will certainly be back again :)

2009 Family Picture:

2008 Family Picture:

2007: No picture...

I guess the fun of volunteering is when you do it with your family and loved ones. The quality time spent in communicating, in doing charity work is simply an enjoyment. I remember last year when we volunteered, Father had just found out that he had contracted cancer. Despite the bad news, he still came to do charity work. There are many fond memories that Metta Welfare Association gives me. And in memory of Father, I shall always do my part in helping others, in my capacity and whenever I can.

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous2:02 AM

    Thanks for coming to help, & jiayous! =)

    ReplyDelete

Please share your feedback and comments.