The Estée Lauder Companies Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign Charity Gala Dinner, KL Hilton – 16 Oct 2008
By Dr Evelyn Ho Oh what a FUN(D) raising night this was! There were nearly 500 people “packed” into the Hilton Kuala Lumpur Grand Ballroom in support of breast cancer awareness and to raise funds for a worthy cause. Splashes of pink were everywhere – as that was the theme in which the ballroom was decorated. Guests also took efforts to dress in pink...a pink tie, a pink shirt, pink shawls, pink accessories were in use to add pink to their attire whilst others actually dressed in various hues and textures of pink. The rains were again blessing the evening – but that was no deterrent. Dennis Lau, violinist extraordinaire was the first act, performing an instrumental. He had also composed something special for the evening. For this, he invited Jimmy “Sax” to duet with him on the very lovely number. Jimmy Sax, as he is known on the local scene, is Southeast Asia’s answer to Kenny G! Emcee Yasmin Yusoff did a superb job, as usual for the evening, giving a great introduction and again reminding everyone why they were there. Yap Su Lin, Chairperson for this year’s Estée Lauder Companies Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign delivered the speech for the night. Mr Loo Kai Nan, Managing Director could not reschedule an urgent meeting out of the country and sent his apologies. Mrs Loo in a resplendent shocking pink gown was his “representative”. Yang Berbahagia Puan Sri Datin Seri Dato’ Akmal Abdul Salam, Patron of the Breast Cancer Welfare Association then delivered a speech from the heart. She had been integral in the many projects including the recent 14th October 2008 Illumination of Menara Kuala Lumpur. That “TOWER OF HOPE” project with Menara Kuala Lumpur was hopefully going to herald a new era of cooperation for breast cancer awareness. Dato’ Zulkifli Mohamad, CEO of Menara KL with his lovely wife, Datin Fauziah were also VIP guests at the dinner. Beautiful pink-inspired gowns were then showcased before auctioning began. A great big thank you to the contributions of Carven Ong, Eric Choong, Khoon Hooi, Ridzwan Bohari and Dato’ Tom Abang Saufi. One phone call was what it took to confirm they could be counted on to support this fun(d) raising cause. De Gem had also designed special jewellery for the auction which was conducted by Christie’s and represented by Lim Meng Hong. Sheila Majid then wowed the crowd who clamoured for her “older” but all time favourite hits! At the close, it was announced the auction raised about RM 46,000 and mock cheque presentations were made to Breast Cancer Welfare Association, National Cancer Society of Malaysia, College of Radiology Academy of Medicine of Malaysia and Cancer Research Initiatives Foundation. Each organisation received RM 70,000! Thank you to everyone who supported and of course, bravo to the organising team of Estée Lauder Companies Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign!
Gala Dinner Partners were Hilton Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia Tattler, sponsors were Andrews Models, DeGem, Eh!, Female, GLAM and NuYou.
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