Over a hundred volunteers raised funds for Goducate at the Christmas Fiesta on the eve of Christmas and Christmas day. The Christmas Fiesta was held in conjunction with a Christmas Musical held at a local Singapore school. The organizers of the musical had generously decided that the proceedings of the fiesta would go to help Goducate.
The volunteers set up booths in the school canteen to sell food, clothes (used and new), health-products and play games. About 20 booths were set up by the volunteers. Many of the volunteers were doing such work for the first time. The youngest volunteer was a ten year old boy who was determined to help Goducate with his simple “pick up marbles in a bowl with a chopstick” game. Though he raised only a few dollars for Goducate, it was a joy just to see his spirit of volunteerism!
As the audience spilled out of the school auditorium at the end of the musical and entered the canteen, they were greeted with many zealous (and sometimes over-zealous) sales-people from the various booths hawking their products. It was a quite amazing to see the zeal of these volunteers – to see normally quiet house-wives become enthusiastic sales-ladies selling some home-baked cookies, to see big bosses of big corporations sell Goducate stickers, and to see so many people just empty their pockets to “help poor Asians help themselves.”
The booth that raised the largest amount of funds was the Goducate booth. Car owners were encouraged to buy Goducate car-stickers, so that they could advertise the Goducate name as they drove. Office workers were encouraged to buy a photo-frame with a Goducate picture of a child to place on their office desks, so that they could advertise the Goducate brand. They were also encouraged to buy Goducate post-it pads. Many also bought Goducate post-cards to send to their friends or to stick on their office notice boards.
The booths raised almost US$4,900.00 for Goducate. This amount was sufficient to pay for the recent renovation of our Goducate coordinating office and for almost all the start up costs of Goducate. But much more important than the funds raised, was the spirit of volunteerism generated that night. As a non-profit organization that runs on a shoe-string budget Goducate will need a strong core-group of passionate volunteers. The passion of the Christmas Fiesta volunteers was a great encouragement to us.
Also, more important than the funds raised from selling Goducate merchandise is the fact that hundreds of cars, offices and homes will be advertising the Goducate name! For a brand-new organization like Goducate, visibility is very important.
To us at Goducate, we consider these dear people who bought and display these Goducate products as more than mere customers – they are valued Goducate volunteers!
