Saturday January 7, 2012
Celebrity helps to raise RM18,000 for Shelter Home
AFTER hosting five episodes of SK-II Miracle Makers produced by ntv7, actress-TV host-emcee, Chermaine Poo rose to a challenge to create her own “miracle project” to raise funds for her chosen charitable organisation. Her feat was recorded as the sixth episode and aired on ntv7 on New Year’s Day.
She created “Chermaine Poo’s Cupcakes for Charity” project and set out to bake 1,000 cupcakes single-handedly in two days and sell them in boxes of six at Sunway Pyramid’s main concourse with the help of her celebrity friends and family members.
All her delicious cupcakes were snapped up in less than an hour.
Shoppers at Sunway Pyramid were surprised by an auction which took place towards the end of the charity event. Poo had prepared a miniature cupcake and auctioned it to raise more funds for the Shelter Home that she is supporting.
For charity: Liew with the miniature cupcake which he paid RM10,000 for while Poo shows off the surprise gift of a big cupcake.
To everyone’s surprise, the miniature cupcake alone fetched an unbelievable amount of donation from a generous donor - Datuk Raymond Liew.
Poo requested for the shoppers and those who had gathered for the auction to give a starting price for the small cupcake and RM100 was suggested.
She never imagined that the miniature cupcake would fetch RM10,000 at the auction!
Liew, president of international accounting firm McMillan Woods Global, who made the winning bid said he was very happy that the mini cupcake he won could be the most expensive one in the world.
He added: “Our group is always ready to give to charity and I feel that Chermaine’s challenge is really remarkable and deserves our support. In fact, we encouraged our staff and business associates to attend and support this event.”
Liew added that his group would continue to support Poo’s charitable projects in the future and encouraged other organisations to do their part for charity.
Poo sprang another surprise after Liew had collected his mini cupcake. She presented him with a big cupcake, saying that the gesture was to show that a giver would receive much more than expected.
The surprised Liew said he did not expect anything in return.
“Money is not the issue; the importance thing is the art of giving,” he added.
When asked if he was going to eat the mini cupcake, he said that he would love to eat cupcakes baked by Poo the celebrity but decided to display it instead as it may be the smallest and most expensive cupcake!
Poo said Malaysians were generally caring and generous.
She said when she and her team were about to leave Signature Kitchen where she did the baking, executive director of Sunway University Elizabeth Lee had called to say she wanted to support her project.
The other celebrities who joined Poo in her mission were Lotus Cars Malaysia division head Oh Kah Beng, celebrity hair-stylist, Albert Nico, international fashion designer Nila Palacios, entrepreneur Carrie Fong and blogger Felixia Yeap.
When asked whether it was worth spending so much time and effort on this project, Poo replied:
“This exercise helped me realise that friends, family members and the public are ever ready to lend a hand to a worthwhile charitable cause that will alleviate the sufferings of the less fortunate people.
“For example, marketing director of Sunway Pyramid Phang Sau Lian immediately agreed when I approached her for the venue and even arranged for a carolling choir, Santa Claus and dancers to liven up the event!
“I am also very grateful to ntv7 and SKII for this platform to start my own charity initiative and a chance to walk in the footsteps of the Miracle Makers.
“I will certainly continue this project, either on ad hoc or continual basis so that more funds will be raised and channelled to deserving charities.”
The Chermaine Poo’s Cupcakes For Charity event collected a total of RM18,000 .
The funds collected will be donated to the Shelter Home For Children.
