Bald is the New Beautiful

If you think you look horribly ugly and unattractive if you're bald, you might be wrong! No... No..., we're not talking about Rihanna or Britney Spears or J Lo here. But we want to show you that BALD can be both sexy and beautiful at the same time. Your next question would be - How on earth is this possible???

Previously, we shared with you an article on how several blilionnaires have pledged their wealth to the society in the US. I came across this article yesterday and found this story aspiring. I honestly admit that I am not as brave as what these people have been doing out there, but I have to salute them for their courage and love for the society. BRAVO!

Fundraising efforts, uh huh... we've heard of food fairs, marathons, roadshows, charity performances, concerts, garage sales, free car wash, etc.... but how about Head Shaving?? This may sound new to some of you who have not been aware of such move. It is definitely not something new but is indeed innovative and a supportive way of raising fund and is used by many fundraisers these days. Its concept is simple, an individual pledges to raise certain amount of money and in turn agrees to shave when someone donates to the cause. 

One example is from this pair of mother and daughter who both decided to forego their precious hair for charity's sake. Further coverage on this story can be found at http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/9/12/nation/7022612&sec=nation

(Picture taken from The Star Online)
Anne Marie (on the left) with her mother, Anne Choon (on the right) shaving their heads at the Pure Lotus Hospice of Compassion in Georgetown, Penang recently

In fact, what Anne-Marie and her mum did was not the very first to happen in Malaysia. Lets take a glimpse at our heroes & heroines whom had done us proud. We should all applaud these wonderful volunteers. Earlier this year in April 2010, World Vision Malaysia organised a charity event at The Curve, Mutiara Damansara which was named as "Operation Botak" ('Botak' is a malay term commonly used locally which means bald).

Hairstylists from the Snips Academy shaving the hair of participants in the bid to raise funds for a Mobile Resource Center for the children of Tuaran and Kota Belud in Sabah

In 2008, a 12-year old schoolboy managed to raise around RM10,000 from donors with his act during a charity fair at Kasih Hospice Care in Petaling Jaya

This is not the end. Our famous blogger Mr. Kenny Sia had also done his part for the Sarawak Children's Cancer Society when he honoured his promise that if the funds raised reached RM50,000 and above, he shall SHAVE. And so did he...

(Picture from kennysia.com)
Look how cool he is

We also have some other interesting websites for your reading pleasure:-

1. Worlds Greatest Shave [http://www.worldsgreatestshave.com/index.php]
    This is a foundation set up for leukemia patients in Australia and once held the Guinness World Record
     in 1999 for achieving the most number of heads shaved within a 24-hour period.

2. St Baldrick's Foundation [http://www.stbaldricks.org/]
    A head-shaving event that takes place on St Patrick's Day, the money raised is used to support pediatric 
    cancer research.


A point to note:

And this is extremely important! If anyone of you ever decides to shave your head, do check through the company's policies or dress codes allowed in school/ college to ensure you do not breach any of the rules & regulations imposed by your employers or schools/ colleges. Believe it or not, there have been cases where students are suspended from school and staffs fired from work - although it may be for a good cause, it might cause you double trouble. Good luck ~ ~

Asian Hospital Management Award 2010

Getting ready for the night with our AA Evercare International Inc (AAI korea branch) partners

Ahn Nyong Ha Sae Yo! The Passionately.You team is in Seoul, South Korea this time. The reason why we’re all gathered in the world’s second largest metropolitan area is because of the Asian Hospital Management Award 2010 and for one purpose.... our Passionately.Pink campaign, jointly organised in collaboration with Assunta Hospital has been nominated for one of the categories, hooray... yippie ~ ~ ~

The guests & nominees were all seated for the ceremony & gala dinner to take place

The mission of AHMA is to recognise and promote the best practices in the industry of hospital management within the region. Awards are given annually for all outstanding projects for the past year. Specifically, this award is given in cooperation with the Joint Commission International, Korean Hospital Association and Asian Hospital Federation to recognise a hospital's outstanding achievements and professional accomplishments that has made an impact on its clients and the public, therefore resulting in the hospital gaining recognition as an innovator or leader in the field. The emphasis was given on businesses that can be more or less attributable to the project and what this is as a percentage of the hospital's revenue. In this sense, a hospital that launched a successful campaign with effective methods/ marketing tools and is able to show significant results will be eligible as the winner. 

The trophies to be awarded (its heavy!!)

The list of categories to be awarded for the night

Here we are in the Marketing, PR or Promotional Project category represented by ASSUNTA  HOSPITAL

AND THE WINNER IS................

Mr. Choy, the CEO of Assunta Hospital, Malaysia receiving the award

YES! We did it! Assunta Hospital was announced as the recipient of the Asian Hospital Management Award 2010, in the category of Marketing, PR or Promotional Project for the Passionately.You Cervical & Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign 2009.

Look, thats our Passionately.You mascot - the cheeky Pink Duck! Quack Quack! 

Mr. Choy delivering his thank you speech

The Asia Assistance team

We felt privileged to be in the competition with four other top and reputable hospitals in the South East Asian region. We have been recognised for our efforts which would not have been possible without the support of our volunteers. This recognition is an endorsement for the work we've been doing and it lends further support and motivation to our continued efforts to make Passionately.You a campaign that everyone is proud of. At the same time, we would like to thank all our volunteers who have been involved in the various events held for this campaign for your efforts in carrying out the activities, making this a great success for everyone. 

A group photo of all the winners of AHMA 2010

Nobody Can Do Everything but Everybody Can Do Something

Each single day, there are children who are in desperate need of surgery or aid somewhere in every corner of this world. Our foundation's goal is to be able to lend a hand and raise funds for these children and individuals suffering from various defects and diseases in order to get through and cover the expensive operational costs that their family are not able to afford. Here are some of the individuals that we’d helped so far this year:-

Three days old Matthew Lim Kin Feng was diagnosed with transposition of the great arteries (TGA) where two blood vessels have switched places, and holes in his heart *Taken from sumijelly.com*

Toddler Chong Yao Xuan
who was diagnosed with
liver tumour

Earlier this year, we have also raised some funds for the Haiti Earthquake Victims to help them rebuild their lives and community.

The screams of Haiti being heard around the world

We hope everybody can make an effort to reach the children and families in need by doing your part from now on. Let us help reduce the world's suffering together and may the world be in peace and harmony.

Share Our Wealth

Have you ever wondered or ask yourself this question – “If I strike a lottery today and won myself $100 million, what will I do with my entire fortune?”

Well, some 40 billionaires, including financial & investment guru, Warren Buffet in the US have opted to join in the footsteps of Microsoft Corporation founder, Bill Gates in pledging their wealth to charity upon their death.

A number of other billionaires have also pledged to put at least half of their wealth into their personal/family foundations, or to make substantial grants to other non-profit organizations. We want to share with you an interesting article that was published in The Star on 5 August 2010.

Click on the URL below for the detailed article: http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.aspfile=/2010/8/5/business/20100805074103&sec=business

Recently the "Giving Pledge", a drive spearheaded by both Mr Warren Buffet and Mr Bill Gates was launched with the intent to get wealthy Americans to pledge at least half of their estates to welfare organisations for the purposes of helping the poor, medicare, education, technology innovation, environment protection and arts development. This is indeed a brilliant move!!

We have yet to see such a pledge happening in Malaysia. Would you pledge your assets and property if there was one? Looking at the percentage of the world’s wealthy man pledging their wealth, it sparks a curiosity on how much of the rest of us will follow suit. Most of us would probably think that the billionaires have plenty to live off even though they have given away their monies, but it doesn’t mean that only the rich ones are supposed to share their wealth. If each one of us puts in the effort to give away 5% of a small contribution (whatever amount is affordable), it would definitely cause a much greater impact on our world community.

For those who are interested to find our more about The Giving Pledge, you can visit the link provided at http://givingpledge.org/

AA Foundation Visit to Trinity Children Centre, Petaling Jaya

Have you ever wondered what kind of life and experience you will be going through if you had grown up without a family or siblings? How often do we sit back and reflect on how lucky we are to be given food, clothing, love, shelter and education… yet we still grunt about what we possess?

Early February this year, we brought our AA Foundation and the entire team to Trinity Children Centre (TCC), which is located not too far from our office in Petaling Jaya. TCC is a place that homes orphans, abandoned, abused or neglected children to provide them care and hope for the young children. TCC consists of both boys and girls, aged between four and seventeen, comprising mainly the Chinese and Indian as well as a small number of foreign nationalities.

(AA Foundation Committees & its volunteers)

We planned our visit on a Saturday since it was the weekend and we were all free. Thought it was good choice… we met up in the office as most of us did not know the direction to TCC. At about 10.30am, we were all ready and started to drove like cars on parade, haha. One car following close to another, there were about 4 cars in total. Upon our arrival, we saw our bosses who were earlier than us, sitting in the hall with the kids. They reached early as they had to rush for a meeting with the clients. Within minutes, children came pouring out the front door, eager to welcome us and interact with them. What a lovely bunch of kids. But, we smelled something fishy when we noticed the children all dressed in their school uniforms.

*TADA* A sudden crisis occurred as we were told that the kids are having replacement classes in school on that day (yes replacement classes on a Saturday!!) due to the Chinese New Year holidays. The next thing that came to our mind, what is going to happen to our plans? Most of the kids were getting ready and waiting for their van to pick them up to school. We did not prepare for any contingency plan and the children have not had their lunch. Thanks to Grace, our AAF “financial controller” who knows PJ area like the back of her hands. We quickly drove to the nearby KFC and bought lunch for the kids. Imagine that we tried to rush for lunch within 20 minutes? The kids enjoyed their KFC, although some of them ate hurriedly before they are late to catch their van.

(Potential Malaysian Idols-to-be, some of the kids took the time to perform a song for everyone of us)

While some of the kids left for school, at noon, the lady who was on duty showed us around the home and we were introduced to the dormitory-style bedrooms where up to 4 to 5 children sleep in a family group, the computer lab, the music room with different sorts of instruments including an organ, guitar, drums, and the little dining hall where the children have to eat in shifts.

(This is where the kids share their room)

(Getting ready to leave for school)

(Some of the medals won by the children)
(Home-made cupcakes by our CEO - Ms. Tammy! Are your taste buds drooling? )

What touched us was the children’s desire and openness to share their daily lives, their personal possessions and photos with us.

We absolutely loved the experience of visiting these children. Although we realize that we may not be able to save and help all these kids, we can all do a little bit to make a difference. For anyone thinking of a trip like this, go for it. You’ll be amazed by what captures your heart and what have been missing from your life. It was for a short period of time but we made a lot of memories in TCC. Meeting these children made our trip more meaningful.

TCC is looking for generous organization and individuals to help defray the monthly expenses. The contribution will assist in the rental for the premise, expenditure for the children’s needs and upkeep of the home. As the intake of the children increases, we need to tap the efforts and expertise of many different types of volunteers on a continual basis to meet our growing needs in helping these children.

To learn more about TCC, you can click the link below:-http://www.tccpj.com.my/index.cfm?menuid=7&parentid=35