Charity Night 2018: Luminescence

Mock cheque presentation session.

On the 24th of March 2018 (Saturday), the Leo Club of Wesley Methodist School held its annual charity event - which was Charity Night, from 7:30p.m. to 11:15 p.m. It was hosted at the Manhattan II ballroom in Berjaya Times Square Hotel, which had been rented prior to the event in order to serve as the main event area.

The theme for this year's Charity Night was "Luminescence". The main purpose of the event was to raise funds to help the blind community, as all profits from this event were donated to various blind organisations and homes. The project also aspired to educate and raise awareness about blindness in our society today. The theme was chosen to enlighten the public on the challenges faced by the millions of blind people all over the world. It is also one of the five main Leo centennial service challenge areas - Vision. This year, the Organising Chairperson and Community Service Director of the Leo Club of Wesley Methodist School, Leo Wong Xin Yi, was assisted by her two Assistant Organising Chairpersons, Leo Hu Shing Ye and Leo Wong You Jian, along with her committee members, Leo Andrea Goh Ern-Rey, Leo Wong Pei Jie, Leo Low Yan Yi and Leo Khoo Zi Qi in planning and orchestrating the event.

On the day of the event, around 300 people attended Charity Night to support our cause. The participants were mainly students from Wesley Methodist School Kuala Lumpur (International), parents, teachers, non-academic staff members, as well as students and clubs from other schools. Our sponsoring club, the Lions Club of Ampang, showed us their full support by gracing this event. We were also honoured to have representatives from our beneficiary organisations, namely Persatuan Membantu Orang Kelainan Upaya Malaysia and the National Council for the Blind to attend our event.

On the event night, registration began at 6:30p.m. and ended at 7:25p.m. A mesmerising opening dance performance was presented to kick-start the event. The meeting was then called to order by

Registration.

Presiding Officer Leo Advisor Lion Tan Poh Ling, who also presented her speech. This was followed by a roll-call session for the VIPs, companies, groups and clubs present by the emcees, Leo Quinn Tan and Leo Yap Ziyi.

Subsequently, our Guest of Honour, Private Education Director of the Methodist Council of Education in Malaysia, Miss Jenny Qua, was invited to deliver her speech. Following that, the guest speaker for the event, Mr Moses Choo, gave an informational talk on blindness which gave insight on the types of visual impairment faced by the blind community from their perspectives. We then proceeded with the presentation of mock cheques to the representatives from the blind related organisations and homes by our faculty advisor, Mr Lee Sek Khoon. Soon after, tokens of appreciation and souvenirs were given out to the VIPs and representatives of clubs and societies present.

With all formalities aside, the first course of dinner was served to the guests at their respective tables. A tantalising array of dishes were then brought out at specific intervals as the event progressed. After the first dish had been served, the Organising Chairperson of Charity Night 2018 and our Community Service Director, Leo Wong Xin Yi, took centre stage with her inspirational speech. Next, a dance performance by Leo members was coupled with a video presentation in the form of an audio diary which detailed the inner thoughts and struggles of a girl who was rendered blind after an accident. After that, an astounding performance was presented by the extremely talented band, Just Strangers. The guests were then treated to an amazing performance by a duo consisting of skilled guitarist Ang Ting, and an experienced pianist, Alton Wong. They were then enthralled as selection of songs were performed by a sensational band from Wesley Methodist School Kuala Lumpur (International), Still Thinking, a trio consisting of Josiah Lim, Karen Ko and Mathias Inn. Later on, the audience were captivated by Julia Gonsalvez as she sang her renditions of a few specially handpicked songs. Last but not least, another performer from our school, Woo Xian Ri, delivered an impressive original song in the form of a rap, which received roaring applause from the guests.

The continuation of the storyline performance was then resumed from where it left off, with the audio diary accompanied by breathtaking dances put together by the Leo members. The show was then brought to a close by a spectacular finale dance. The event officially ended at 11:15p.m.

The entire process of planning the event, which took place over several months, was one wrought with hardships and challenges. It was undoubtedly an extremely tiring and stressful period of time for the committee, BOD members, and Leo members, who all sacrificed their time and energy to ensure that the event ran smoothly from start to finish. However, all their hard work and efforts bore fruit, as Charity Night 2018 was a success, managing to give guests a thoroughly enjoyable experience while raising a substantial amount of RM25791.80, all of which was donated to the blind organisations and homes. We felt a strong sense of achievement and pride as we were able to contribute and show our support to the blind community through this event. The event was an extremely rewarding experience as it taught us many invaluable life-lessons. We learnt to have unwavering determination and to be quick and adaptable in order to come up with solutions to challenges such as last-minute changes in the event flow and other unforeseen circumstances. In conclusion, Charity Night 2018: LUMINESCENCE was a tremendous success, due to the dedication and commitment of our Leo members.