 Anita Sarawak Wows All at the Estée Lauder Companies Malaysia Charity Gala Dinner & Auction 2009 – 24 Oct 2009
By Dr Evelyn Ho
Guests at the Estée Lauder Companies Malaysia (ELC) Charity Gala Dinner & Auction were delighted by the energetic and highly entertaining diva, Anita Sarawak. Having to come in early in the order of events because of another engagement later was a blessing in disguise, as she got everyone tapping their feet, clapping their hands or joining her in the singing. She singled out Ms Chan Mo Lin, to sing with her on a very popular Chinese number (Teresa Teng’s The Moon Represents My Heart). Mo Lin rose to the occasion and the audience were impressed by her obvious singing talent too! Anita did not confine herself to the stage, but made her entrance through the main door to the Mandarin Oriental Grand Ballroom, and during some of her songs, weaved her way through the tables singing and shaking hands with guests or getting them to sing along with her, and eventually got four of the ladies to dance with her! The moments with Anita just flew by, and before you knew it, she was off and out of the ballroom, making her exit as dramatic and sudden as her entrance.
By 7pm, guests had arrived and mingling in the foyer of the Mandarin Oriental Grand Ballroom. Raffle tickets were selling like hot cakes. For RM100 a raffle, guests could stand a chance of winning items ranging from RM499 (IPod Nano) to RM7,500 (Elie Saab Bag). Other items included a Sony Vaio, Tom Ford Miniaudiere, Guess Collection Watch, Sony Camera, Raoul Man Leather goods and cufflinks, Sony S frame, 2D/1N stay in a Deluxe City View Room at Mandarin Oriental, Banana Republic handbag and Raoul Oversized Clutch.
Photography booths were set up for guests to pose with their friends or by themselves with the ELC World Pink backdrops. The photographs were printed almost immediately as during the course of the dinner, guests could collect their “photo moments” complete with frame at the registration table outside the ballroom. That was certainly a very nice touch to be able to give to guests “instant” momentoes at ELC’s grand and beautiful occasion to raise funds for breast cancer support, detection and research.
The very capable emcee of the night was none other than well known celebrity Yasmin Yusuff. She introduced Mr Loo Kai Nan, Managing Director of ELC Malaysia who gave a speech of ELC’s endeavours in breast cancer awareness and fund raising whilst this was followed by Ms Ranjit Kaur, President of the Breast Cancer Welfare Association (BCWA) delivering the speech by Yang Berbahagia Puan Sri Datin Seri Dato’ Akmal Abdul Salam, Patron of the BCWA, who was only arriving at 9pm the same night of this dinner from Prague! However, Yang Berbahagia Puan Sri Datin Seri Dato’ Akmal Abdul Salam had given everyone of the guests, a lovely cupcake decorated with pink ribbon icing, from her own patisserie.
Yasmin Yusuff was brilliant in cajoling and encouraging guests to bid for the exclusive designer gowns, DeGem jewellery as well as the Reverso Squadra Classic timepiece by Jaeger-LeCoultre which were auctioned off during the dinner. Yasmin was on her feet almost throughout the whole dinner, (except during performances) doing justice to the sponsored items for auction. The showcase of Vintage Glamour by Malaysia’s Top 5 Designers – Carven Ong, Eric Choong, Khoon Hooi, Ridzwan Bohari and Dato’ Tom Abang Saufi was immediately followed by the auction of the gowns. However, the greatest excitement came during the bids for the collector’s item, the Reverso timepiece engraved with a pink ribbon and adorned with a pink strap to support the breast cancer awareness programme. The watch was finally “sold” at RM41,500!
Giving Yasmin a reprieve from her emcee duties was a performance by jazz artiste, Noryn Aziz. It also gave time for the organising committee to tally the amount raised during the dinner. Prior to the Charity Dinner, ELC Malaysia had already raised RM300,000 through their sales of special Pink October merchandise, Charity Golf at Kota Permai Golf & Country Club and World Pink Photo Wall by Sony. There were roadshows at malls where health talks were organised, clinical breast examinations were provided and teaching of self breast examination booths were available.
The night ended on a very high note, as a total amount of RM402, 000 had been raised, and mock cheques were presented to all the 4 beneficiaries of ELC Malaysia’s fund raising. These were Breast Cancer Welfare Association (breast cancer support), National Cancer Society of Malaysia, College of Radiology (For subsidised mammograms) and Cancer Research Initiatives Foundation (for research). The organising committee of this year’s ELC Malaysia Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign headed by Katrina Liew, came on stage for all to acknowledge for their magnanimous and tireless efforts. It was a truly emotional moment for all present, giver and recipients.
Congratulations to ELC Malaysia for bringing awareness in so many ways and for reaching out in the malls to the public. To all who contributed to the ELC efforts by purchase of the pink ribbon items and for their generous contributions at the Charity Gala Dinner & Auction, their presence at the Walk for World Pink, Ilumination of Menara KL, and the Gardens Mid Valley Mall, indeed a great big thank you!
For reports and information on the College of Radiology
Value Added Mammogram Programme,
please click here.
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