The Christmas Charity Bazaar is an annual event held by the Leo Club of Petaling Jaya Integrity jointly with its sister clubs; Leo Clubs of SMK Assunta, SMK Damansara Jaya, SMK Taman Sea and the SMK Taman Petaling. It was held from the 17th of December until the 19th of December. The main objective of this project is to raise funds as well as to collect donated presents for over two hundred less fortunate children and old folks.
On the first day of the bazaar, several Leos gathered in front of MPH bookstore which was the site we were given by the management of Subang Parade. The Leos got to the site at 9.30 in the morning and got right to work by setting up the stall and Christmas tree. As for the decorations on the tree, Leo Casheen had designed cut outs which had the names of the many children that were from the orphanages.
After the stall was set up, some Leos decided to do some promoting as there were not many people stopping by at the stall and this managed to boost up the sales. Some of the Leos were assigned to explain to the customers about the purpose of our project. At first, there were not many people who wanted to stop by at our stall but after much persuasion by the Leos, they decided that it was a good cause and started to buy things from the stall. At around 10 in the night, the Leos started to pack up and do a stock check.
For the second day of the project, the Leos also set up the stall and the crowd started to build up. Next up, at around 2 in the afternoon, the opening ceremony for the project was held in front of the stall. Lion Ivan was kind enough to grace our ceremony. There were short speeches and the ribbon was cut to officiate the project. Sales on the second day of the event was much better than the first day as the Leos had got the hang of how things worked.
The 19th of December was the last day of the project and there were only a few nametags left on the Christmas tree. At around 6 in the evening, the closing ceremony was held. The caretakers and several children from their homes came by to Subang Parade for the ceremony. Leo Eric from the Leo Club of Petaling Jaya Integrity was the emcee for the day. The speeches delivered were by the organising chairperson of the project, Leo Jean Ng and as well as the president of the Leo Club of Petaling Jaya Integrity, Leo Fion Tey. After the speeches were made, the gifts were handed out the children and caretakes .
Then, there was a photo taking session with the kids. After that, everyone headed on over to Mc Donald’s with the children for a meal. At around 7 in the evening the children were done with their meals and it was time for them to leave. They wished several Leos a Merry Christmas and headed home. Then the Leos headed back to the stall and did the routine stock checking and cleared the area. The site of the stall was cleaned up and at around 11 in the night.
All together this project has managed to raise a total net profit of RM4742.55. This project has been very beneficial and certainly a good one. We are glad to have made a difference in the lives of the less fortunate during the festive season.
Report by,
Leo Shivania.S
Secretary of the Christmas Charity Bazaar 2010
Venue : Praise Emmanuel Children’s Home (PECH)
