It was quite overwhelming initially

when it started getting so big - Effa Desa

18 Events

SATURDAY 24 December 2005

Metro

(From left) Fly

Guy and
Carruthers with
Serve With
Style: Charity
Star emcee KC
explaining the
concept behind
the design of
their T-shirt,
which was up
for auction.

Students efforts
draw star support
Story and photos by NIKI CHEONG

OUR undergraduates recently showed that

you can achieve almost anything, if you
just put your mind to it.
Their efforts at creating awareness of and
raising some funds for the Special Children
Society of Ampang (SCSOA) started off as a
small project, but soon escalated into something much bigger, culminating with a starstudded event last Saturday.
The event, dubbed Charity Stars: Shine for a
Cause, saw the students collaborating with
major organisations such as popular local
nightspot Zouk Club, local streetwear label
Radioactive and fashionista Gillian Hung's
Fashion Academy of Creative Technology
(FACT), among others.
The students, Effa Desa, Lynn Tee, Eunise Lee
and Sia Hui Min, themselves form a non-profit
organisation called Serve With Style.
It was quite overwhelming initially when it
started getting so big, Effa said. But I'm
thankful to everyone for helping and encouraging us to keep going.
The special night featured a host of events,
including two performances by up-and-coming
electro-pop singer Saer Ze and a hip-hop dance
performance by Floor Fever Crew.
Three other local fashion academies,
International Fashion Training Centre, Carven
Academy of Fashion and Raffles LaSalle Design
Institute, joined FACT to display some of their
students' work on the catwalk.
International model Amber Chia made a special appearance at the end of the fashion show

dressed in a white dress designed by SCSOA student Wong Wei Yuen. Chia had previously
joined other celebrities, including Hans Isaac,
Joanna Bessey, Miss Malaysia/World 2004
Gloria Ting, FLYfm deejays Fly Guy and Adam
Carruthers as well as Zouk Club deejays
Goldfish and Blink in a public service announcement to raise awareness of the Centre.
I really wanted to help the children in any
way I could, especially after meeting them for
the first time, Chia said. When I met them, I
was taken aback by their innocence and I felt
really connected to them.
The night ended with a celebrity T-shirt auction The celebrities and students from the
Society had collaborated to design T-shirts
sponsored by Radioactive, and most of the
celebrities were on hand to help auction the Tshirts off.
In her speech thanking the organisers and
sponsors, SCSOA president Christine Wong said,
On behalf of the children, I would like to thank
the organisers, celebrities and sponsors for their
efforts in helping our cause.
And for Effa, the night was indeed a success.
I was thrilled that we executed it so well
despite the lack of time and manpower and I'm
happy that people had a good time - that was
important, she said. I'm also happy that we
could do something to help the charity centre.
All funds collected from the ticket sales and
auction will go towards SCSOA's fund to move
to new premises that will be able to accommodate the more than 40 children who currently
spend time at the centre. For information on the
Centre, log on to www.scsoa.org.my/.