The Emerald Ball returned from the Hyatt Hotel to the splendor of the St Regis Singapore for the 2016 Ball. The Committee decided on a theme of “All that Jazz” for this 8th running of the event, allowing the ladies to don their “Glitz and Glam” and cover everything from the great Jazz Age of the 30’s and 40’s to the present day.
The Causes Committee headed by Excomm members, Peter Tierney and Lyndon Mullan had done an excellent job in identifying a number of worthy causes under the general heading of Disadvantaged and At – Risk Youth in our Community. The main beneficiary this year was SAMH, the Singapore Association for Mental Health where a donation of S$140,000 will go towards the renovation and fitting out of a new center at Marsiling which will target youth at risk, young adults and caregivers who suffer from psychological or emotional issues. The goals of this new facility are to de-stigmatize mental health issues through the use of expressive arts and to encourage more young people to be comfortable in seeking treatment.
Other Charities with projects which TSIF supported from this year’s Ball included CARE Singapore, CATCH+, Equal Ark, Filos Community Services, Autism Resource Centre and the ongoing support of the Adventure and Leadership project for Boys Town, to which group, TSIF donated S$136,000 in total.
We were fortunate to have representatives from all the benefiting charities at the Ball where they were royally hosted by TSIF President, Colin MacDonald at his VIP table. As well as being represented by President and his wife, Dr. and Mrs. Francis Yeoh, SAMH were generous in taking a table with immediate past President, Dr. Daniel Fung Shuen Sheng presiding.
Chairman Dr. Stanley Quek included in his guests Irish Ambassador Geoffrey and Jane Keating and was delighted that H.E British High Commissioner, Scott Wightman and his wife Anne were able to join in the festivities along with visiting Provost of Trinity College Dublin, Patrick Prendergast and his counterpart Prof & Mrs. Tan Thiam Soon of The Singapore Institute of Technology who are working with together on a Student Immersion Programme supported by TSIF.
TSIF were delighted to attract over 300 guests to the event which was organized once again by the indefatigable Ball Committee Chairwoman, Sheila Lim who produced the best Ball yet with excellent fare from the St Regis kitchens complimented by delicious wines from Straits Wine Company who were also the event managers and of course, the obligatory Guinness bar supplied once again, by APB.
The object of the Ball is of course to promote the many ties of friendship between Singapore and Ireland which was evidenced by such a great turnout from both communities and from the many stallworths who have supported TSIF from the very beginning. To them we owe a huge expression of thanks and hope for their continuing support in the years to come.
But there is also the serious side of the Ball which is the major annual fundraiser for TSIF and once again, Dr. Quek had set challenging financial targets for the Ball to meet in order to realize our commitments to our worthy causes.
The generosity of our guests in supporting the live and silent auctions, along with the purchase of the many tables ensured that TSIF reached and surpassed its target for the evening with a magnificent S$500,000 raised for our causes. TSIF has now raised and donated over S$4.5m to charities in the Singapore Community covering community relations and care of the aged and disadvantaged, education, culture and the arts and sport.
