Our journey is coming to an end in a few more days but we are not given up our hope yet. We will stay up all night if we have to, to make this event a successful one. We still hope more people of the public will soon open their eyes and support us.
Published on The Brunei Times (http://www.bt.com.bn/en)
Published on The Brunei Times (http://www.bt.com.bn/en)
Charity Evening sets $78,000 target
For a good cause: Institute of Medicine students and volunteers have set up a booth at The Mall, Gadong, to raise funds for and awareness about autism and Smarter. Picture: Nasroul Hizam
Monday, January 28, 2008
WITH less than a week to go until the curtain rises on the Charity Evening event to raise funds and awareness about autism and Smarter, volunteers and students of the Institute of Medicine, Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) have been going at it in full force and holding very little back to ensure that the event is a success.
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
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
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