Malaysians restore our faith in humanity as they step up to raise funds for cancer kids.
A number of well wishers will go bald or go bold on March 29th (Sunday) at Waikiki for the 3rd edition of their “Tribute to Kindness Bold & Beautiful charity event”. Held for the third consecutive year, Bold & Beautiful is a fund raiser done to assist poor families whose children are undergoing cancer treatment.
Among the 10 Malaysians that have pledged to go bald to raise funds for the night are Tony Siew (owner of Waikiki Bar), Kuhan Shanmuganathan aka S Kuhan (former National Hockey Captain), communications manager cum budding singer Mel Mohseyn, Michelle Koh, Poojitha Menon, Melanie Lim, Cynthia Santa Maria, Elise Wong, Helen Sta Maria and Yvonne Ham.
Changing things up this year, the organisers have incorporated going “bold” with washable hair colours for those who would like to participate in the event on another level.
Veteran drummer Rik Omar has stepped forward to go “gold” in support of the gold ribbon which signifies childhood cancer. Joining him are Nadia Ham (going purple), Elvira Tang, Christine Das and Juanita Ramayah (the host of Vbuzz / Astro) Vinmeen, Jasmine Yong and Purwaiz Alam.
Each participant will raise a minimum of RM1,000 from their circle of friends to sponsor their shave/colour.
All proceeds raised during the event will go to a specially dedicated fund — The Heston Siew Tribute Fund — which is aimed to render timely aid to many Malaysian children, regardless of gender, age and religion from financially stressed families, who are undergoing treatment at the local public facility.
The fund is governed by a steering committee set up between UMMC’s paediatric oncology department and social welfare unit and Tribute To Kindness (TTK) representatives which comprises club owner Tony Siew, retired hotelier Judy Pow and artiste Joy Victor.
The committee meets every quarter to discuss & review cases. Since last November, The Heston Siew Tribute Fund has disbursed almost RM100,000 to subsidise cancer treatment and drugs to 27 children. Incidentally, Heston Siew is Tony Siew’s son who was diagnosed with AML, a form of child leukaemia when he was eight months old.
Now at three years and in remission, it was in fact the fighting spirit of this little boy which gave this charity group the impetus to further define their role to support the gold ribbon i.e. childhood cancer.
The 2013 inaugural Bald & Beautiful event which saw 27 friends and well wishers going bald raised an astonishing amount of RM105,000. 21 families received aid from the fund.
The second event last year broke the earlier bench mark, with an astounding RM172,000 collected in total. 24 friends went bald and amongst were artistes Elvira Arul & Joy Victor as well as journalists Purwaiz Alam and his son Johan.
Apart from the funds raised during the event, Waikiki Bar will also be donating 20% of sales from the night to the charity. Those who wish to participate by going bald or bold and those who wish to make a donation may contact the organisers on its Facebook page – Tribute To Kindness.
Event details for Bold & Beautiful V 3.0 are as follows:
Time: 4.30pm
Venue: Waikiki Bar, Petaling Jaya
Admission: RM30nett (first drink, money goes to charity)
More information about Bold & Beautiful V 3.0 can be found here.