Reach out Touch a Heart - Preview Video
Never give up - charity till the end
Published on The Brunei Times (http://www.bt.com.bn/en)
Charity Evening sets $78,000 target
So far, only less than half of the $78,000 target has been reached. "Sales haven't been so good," Jonathan Lim pointed out. "We have 4,000 slots to fill up and currently we're still in the hundreds."
Jonathan Lim, 22, a final-year medicine student and floor manager for the charity evening, said that about $20,000 have been collected so far from donation boxes and sponsorship. In addition, 50 tables out of 77 allocated for the evening have already been taken, mostly by private companies and government departments.
Ticket sales have been open for the past three weeks and in terms of publicity, they have done everything they can through radio, TV and newspapers. They even tried out a publicity stunt by having four cars drive through Gadong, huge posters stuck on them as the passengers shouted out for attention.
"People stared," Jonathan said with a laugh. But it did manage to rake in some curious bystanders who asked them what the event was all about. But it is still difficult to explain why the response from the public, despite the exposure and efforts, is not going at the expected speed.
But the volunteers and the students are not giving up. They have set up a booth at The Mall, Gadong, where the Brunei Awareness for Information Communication Technology (BAICT) 2008 is taking place, to spread the word and collect donations, at the same time to educate the public about issues related to autism and Smarter's efforts to make life easier for sufferers, their parents, guardians and family members.
The idea for the charity event came up after Jonathan and 14 fellow students came across autism during a case study in their second year.
To find out more, they visited Smarter and realised the need to raise funds to help support the cause. The Dean of the Institute of Medicine, members of staff, UBD and even the Ministry of Home Affairs gave their green light and soon after, all 46 students of the Institute of Medicine were involved.
They are joined by volunteers, some as young as 16 years old, who signed up to man booths, put up posters and hand out flyers.
The task of organising such a monstrous event lay heavily on the shoulders of students of the Institute of Medicine as the semester also recently started. "Work has been piling up," Jonathan shared. "But they've had to be pushed aside to make time for the Charity Evening as in the management, accounting and publicity."
Though the desired target to contribute to Smarter may still appear to be distant, their secondary aim to create awareness among the public will continue to be realised. Jonathan said that during the process of asking for sponsorship from schools, government departments and companies, many asked about autism and Smarter.
"A school in Belait even requested for a talk on autism, which is scheduled for Tuesday," he added.
So far, support and cooperation has been so much more than they expected, especially from PhuturePhase Productions, which was enthusiastic and very quick to donate 11 local artists for the night. Though a small committee, the students of the Institute of Medicine hope that the public will contribute in any way they can while there is still time and take the chance to "Reach Out, Touch A Heart".
The Brunei Times
Road to Charity
First , with the permission of the police, we go 'around' gadong area with FOUR cars carrying long banners and shout 'come to IM Charity! Buy your tickets NOW!' ...That was a LOT of fun...Can't believe we did that! Dr Mas' nephews are very cute when they shout 'go..go..go...'
kenny's car
Getting ready to go
preparing the video
Then the show begins... here are the joy and fun at CoffeeBean yesterday for Meet the Stars session. More on Papz Blogspot, click here, our official photographer for the event.
Blood and sweat before the charity evening
Well, this is preparing for tommorow surprise. Around 11 ish in the morning, you will see us in gadong, kiulap and bsb. You'll see.
Don't forget to come for 'Meet the Fan/Stars' sessions at Coffeebean & Tea leaf at 3pm-6pm
Summer School in Japan!
Do you remember when our students visited Japan for their summer school in December? Well, here are a few pics contribution by our beloved Lecturer, Miss Haiza.
Meet the FAN session
There will be organising 'Meet the fan session' for the Charity Evening @ Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf in Gadong from 4-6pm on Friday, 25th Jan. There will be unplugged performance and a chance for you to meet your beloved artist and buy the tickets. Cooltunes will publicise the event via B.Mobile. So don't miss it! See you all there.
Farewell to Eliza...
This is a bit overdue but here it is. We had a farewell to Eliza. She's leaving us to have a baby... Well, thats half true. She was transfer to Postgraduate section in the admin. We going to miss you... Please visit us and keep in touch ok. Here are the pics
Tickets on SALE!!!
Tickets for the Charity Evening, Reach Out, Touch a Heart are on sale now!
Tickets available at:
Institute of Medicine, UBD
Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (Gadong)
Supasave (Beribi)
Vitaliv Health & Wellness Clinic (Warisan Sg Tilong)
@ $15, $25 and $50 (inclusive of dinner)
Did I mentioned there will be lucky draws!!! The grand price will be announce at the end of the show.
For more information, please call 2463001 ext 1906.
Volunteers briefing for Charity Evening
Last night, more than 100 volunteers turned up to the Chancellor Hall, UBD for the Charity Evening briefing. The function started off with a welcoming remark from Dr Mas Rina Wati, Dean of Institute of Medicine, followed by an introduction video of Children with Autism in SMARTER. Nik Tuah, one of the adviser for this event said that becoming a volunteer in such event and see that it can change the life of a person, it is truly a rewarding experience.
The volunteers were brief with their roles to promote and sale as many ticket as their can for the charity evening. Who ever sale the most ticket will get a surprise reward from the committees.
We, from the Institute would like to give our special thanks to the volunteers for coming last night and to congratulate you all for your courage to step up and help to improve our community.
Aim to raise $78,000 for SMARTER!
Institute of Medicine to hold Charity Evening
By Amin Hosni
Students of the Institute of Medicine, Universiti Brunei Darussalam in collaboration with PhuturePhase Production will be organising a Charity Evening at the Jerudong Park Amphitheatre on February 2, 2008.
All proceeds from the ticket sales will go to SMARTER, the Society for the Management of Autism Related Issues in Training Education and Resources, Brunei Darussalam.
The Charity Evening is aimed at raising funds to support SMARTER in their efforts to maintain the centre and specific programmes as well as creating awareness and educating the public regarding autism and the role of SMARTER.
At the same time, it also hopes to bring together the medical students of the institute in an exercise that can exhibit their leadership, teamwork and management skills and increase awareness among the community in a project that is close to their hearts.
According to Lim Chun of Institute of Medicine, UBD, "We got an attachment to SMARTER last year and basically we looked at the activities that were being done there.
"At SMARTER, a lot of their programmes are put on hold due to insufficient funds and not enough support from the public. There are more and more numbers of children with autism going there," said Seif Mei Chien, also a student from the institute.
"Raising funds through charity would be good for them to carry out their programmes. It's not just their programmes, but they also need specialists.
"SMARTER also needs to build an adult centre ... and for that, they need about $50,000.
"If we are able to sell all the tickets, we could get around $78,000 and we are hoping to donate that amount to SMARTER," she added.
Special appearances will be made by various artistes at the Charity Evening. Tickets can be purchased at the Institute of Medicine, UBD and from 1-4pm @ Coffeebean and Tea leaf in Gadong.
IM Charity Evening Promotion poster 2008
For more information, please click here
Universiti Brunei Darussalam
