Roarchella 2017 - Safe and Sound

On the 25^th of March 2017 (Saturday) the Leo Club of Wesley Methodist School held its annual charity event – which was Roarchella, from 4.30 p.m. to 9.00 p.m. It was hosted at HELP College of Arts and Technology, as HELP College had generously allowed us to rent their premises for holding our event.

The theme for this year’s Roarchella was “Safe and Sound”. Besides aiming to raise funds to help the less fortunate as all profits from the event will be donated to various charitable organisations and homes, we also aspire to educate and raise awareness about child abuse in our society today. The theme was specifically chosen as one of our main objectives was to enlighten the public on how a child deserves to feel at home, and not in constant fear of abuse. A child should be living in joy and happiness in a loving home; thus a child should always be safe and sound. This year, the Community Service Director of Leo Club of Wesley Methodist School, Leo Teo Boon Kee, was assisted by two Assistant Organising Chairpersons, namely Leo Estee Tai Min Huey and Leo Chan Wei Xinn, along with her fellow committee members, Leo Kaitlyn Ng Yu-Yin and Leo Lau Tjia-Yi.

On the day of the event, around 300 people attended to support our cause, mainly consisting of students from Wesley Methodist School Kuala Lumpur (International), parents, teachers, non-academic staffs as well as students and clubs from other schools. Our sponsoring Lions Club, Lions Club of Ampang showed us full support by gracing the event. We were also honoured to have representatives from three of our beneficiary organisations, namely Rumah Kebajikan Karunai Illam, SUKA Society and P.S. The Children to attend our event.

That night, a line-up of breath-taking performances were assembled to entertain the audience. Registration began at 4.30 p.m. and at 5.00 p.m., an opening performance was presented to kick-start the event. The meeting was then called to order by our Presiding Officer, President of Lions Club of Ampang, Lion Sek Jin Han, who also presented his speech. It was followed by a roll call session for the VIPs and clubs present by the emcees, Leo Tan Yong Ze and Leo Gan Zuo Rui.

After that, the Admissions and Operations Manager of Wesley Methodist School Kuala Lumpur (International), Madam Evelyn Sim, represented the Principal of WMSKL(I), Madam Chia, through her speech, followed by a speech given by our Guest of Honour, 2nd Vice District Governor, Lion Michelle Mok. We then proceeded with the presentation of mock cheques to the representatives of the charitable organisations by Madam Evelyn Sim, as well as our Presiding Officer, Lion Sek Jin Han and the Guest of Honour, Lion Michelle Mok. Heartfelt speeches were also presented by all the representatives of the charitable organisations themselves. Soon after, the presentation of tokens of appreciation to all VIPs, as well as souvenirs for clubs and societies present were carried out. The Organising Chairperson, Leo Teo Boon Kee then took centre stage with her heart-warming speech.

With all the formalities aside, the VIPs and guests then got to enjoy an astounding dance performance by our very own junior Leo members. Following that, a beautiful performance by the musical group, Ang Ting, Shin Kay and The Trio captured the audience’s hearts, especially with their rendition of “Flashlight” which prompted the audience to wave lights in the air along to the music. A presentation was then carried out to educate the audience on children rights by our Guest Speaker, Ms Anne Albert, who was the Programme Assistant of UNICEF Malaysia. It was followed by a touching video presentation, which was put together by our own members to convey the message as well.

Our lucky draw session was then held for the guests to test their luck. Four lucky guests out of roughly 300 people were selected through a fair system of drawing lots. As the ticket numbers were drawn on the spot, the chosen guests proceeded on to the stage one by one to receive their prizes. After that, a buffet-style dinner was served to the guests in an orderly manner. During this time, the guests also entertained themselves by playing fun mini-games at our games booths, which were set up, and buying second-hand books, donated by our members, at the pre-loved booth.

Following that, a powerful dance consisting of our talented senior Leo members was showcased to portray the battles and suffering that abused children have to go through. Later on, the audience was captivated with the charming performance by our performers from Wesley Methodist School Kuala Lumpur (International) itself, which were Ong Kye Li, Lauren Lim, Sharif Lew and Erwan Toh.

An array of songs were then performed by the talented Joyce De Brito, together with her brothers Peter James and Donavan. Former Leo and student of Wesley Methodist School Kuala Lumpur (International) Jonathan Chew Jia Wei along with his friend, Chiam Kai Ning, also showed their support for our event by putting up an impressive singing performance which overwhelmed the audience. Last but not least, our Leo members closed the show with an enchanting dance performance. The event officially ended at 9.00 p.m.

The entire journey of planning this event was undoubtedly exhausting and stressful. A lot of hard work and many long sleepless nights were sacrificed to ensure the smooth running of the event. However, it was a great experience for all of us, as it taught us many life-lessons. One of the most important things which we learnt through organising this event was to have determination and to never give up when facing difficult situations. Not forgetting, the most rewarding thing for us was to know that we were able to assist and touch the lives of many of those in need. In addition to that, the positive feedback which we received from satisfied guests were very encouraging to us, as it showed that all the efforts put in by our members had paid off. Overall, we are proud to say that we have achieved our objective as we have successfully raised a staggering amount of RM 33,460. We are ecstatic to know that with this large sum of money raised, we are able to help many innocent victims of child abuse as well as the less fortunate. To sum it up, the event was a huge success and definitely exceeded our expectations, and we could not have done it without the dedication of our Leo members.