GO BALD 3 AT THE SPRING: MAY 15

We would like to highlight two important individuals this month who will be going bald this May 15th:

Silas Michael from Truevents

It was Silas who first introduced SCCS to us, and even before Studio 23 was launched in 2009, Serina and her dance troupe performed for the SCCS Golden Child Camp at Santubong in 2008. For the first two Go Bald events, Studio 23 performed at the Spring to help promote awareness and to support the cause of SCCS.

We told them, "look, you can dance or you can get shaved"... the rest was easy!

We are also very proud of two ladies who got shaved; our very own Georgette Tan and Joanna Yap. Albert also went onboard as copywriter for the Go Bald team last year.

Bald Crazy Monkeys at the Spring

This year, we won’t be around during the Shave off on May 13 – May 15 at the spring, as a group of us will be attending the World Belly Dance Day Charity Event in KL the same weekend. We want to show our continuous support by helping Silas to raise money for his pledge card. Let’s help him reach his target of RM20k for the children!

Even the guys got into the Belly Dancing action!

Jeremy Rose (our youngest Brazilian Jiu Jitsu student!)

We would also like to help 10-year-old Jeremy raise money on his pledge card. One of the most traumatic experiences for children who are already suffering from the burden of cancer is the loss of their hair. 

We want to applaud Jeremy for stepping up and helping to spread the word. This is the 2^nd year in a row that he is getting shaved. Because of him, children with cancer will know that it’s okay to be bald.  Way to go, Jeremy!    

***

We'd also like to highlight a recent post written by Silas. It's a great reminder on why the SCCS is such a worthy cause that deserves our support:

Go Bald 3: Let’s Help Kids Fight Cancer!

By: Silas Michael

Silas and his son, Matthew, both got shaved during the inaugural Go Bald event in 2009!

Three years ago, a friend of mine, Rodney Wong, an exco and Publicity Chairman of the Sarawak Children's Cancer Society (SCCS), approached me and several young entrepreneurs to come up with a happening approach for youths and the current generation to be involved in charity, specifically in aid of the SCCS, which supports children and families suffering from the trauma of childhood cancer.

Inspired by a similar event in Singapore, we decided to create GoBald. It is a campaign that aims to:

1) Raise awareness on childhood cancer in Sarawak

2) Garner support from the public for the SCCS and her projects

3) Raise funds for the SCCS

Apparently, a new childhood cancer case is diagnosed every 5 days in Sarawak (based on the last few year's report by the SGH) and the most well-equipped hospital in Sabah & Sarawak that provides the necessary treatment for childhood cancer is the Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) that is located in Kuching, Sarawak. Even children from Sabah are sent there for bone cancer treatment. Even the famous major private hospital, Normah Medical Centre, only has facilities for leukemia treatment. 

The SCCS provides many forms of support for the children diagnosed with cancer and their families. You can find out more at www.sccs.org.my but some of these include:

1) Providing counselling

2) Providing accommodation and transportation for those from out of town especially the less well-to-do families

3) Running programs and activities such as the Golden Child Camp (at resorts, incl family members) and children's ward visitations

4) Provide financial support for treatment

5) Helps purchase cancer treatment medicine when the hospital stock runs out (hospital has a pretty lengthy process in the procurement of new medicine stock, at times)

On an annual basis, the State Government allocates RM5k for every recognized state welfare organization, including the SCCS. However, the SCCS has a annual operations overhead of some RM500k.

Recently (last year), they were asked to relocate to a new location as the current place they're at now (just 4 min walk from the SGH) has been gazetted for urban development. The State Govt has provided a nice 1.7 acre land for the new SCCS centre but:

1) It's much further from the SGH (so the SCCS need a bigger van)

2) The new centre is well-equipped and more hospitable and bigger with more rooms but will cost some RM2.5million

While there are already some corporate sponsors supporting the SCCS, the sum that they provide is far too little and hence we need to raise a call-to-action by the general public via GoBald (The SCCS has other events including an annual food fair that raises some RM250-300k) especially among the youth and current generation (17-40yrs).

In the first year, GoBald was participated by some 100 shavees and 2 were ladies, raising about RM215k. Last year, over 400 people shaved, including more than 20 ladies, raising some RM400k++

This year, we are running GoBald in two cities. Miri and Kuching:

1st May - Bintang Megamall, Miri

15th May - The Spring Shopping Mall, Kuching

This year, we hope to garner more shavees and raise even more funds. The target is RM1.5million but we'll leave that as the annual target and not just on GoBald's campaign alone. Nonetheless, nothing wrong with trying to achieve that amount. If not this year, maybe next year. But that's a whole new story init?

So, just how do we raise funds as a shavee?

In the first year, Kenny Sia, a renown blogger and celebrity in his own right came to the fore to help champion the cause among his blog readers and friends. He pledged to raise RM50k before he would go onstage to GoBald. Kenny raised of RM60k for the SCCS. In total, over 100 heads were shaved in front of a watching audience at the Spring, Kuching and RM215k was raised.

Last year, several prominent individuals came to the fore and one of them, a gospel artiste and church pastor, GT Lim, raised over RM90k from his sponsors. In total, over 400 heads were shaved and about RM400k++ was raised.

This year, there are no celebs. No prominent VIPs. But there's still you and I. We can make a difference too. I'm pledging to raise RM20k from my friends and business associates. You could raise RM100 or RM100k. The amount does not matter. It's the action and desire to show your support for children with cancer. So, join me in this quest, and let's Shave to Save. Let's help kids fight cancer!

Find out more at www.gobald.my and see how you too, can participate and support the campaign and the SCCS.