Care To Share

Today was a fun-filled day for all three of us.

It was Care and Share Day 2009 at Sonny's school, Dunman Secondary School. A fun fair event to raise funds for the needy students and their families, especially important now more than ever, with the gloomy economy.

Today started off very early for all of us. Wifey woke us up and one by one we took our baths, got ready and left our home ten minutes to seven. Packed with poles and props, stationary and other stuff, we really stopped traffic packing the cab full and headed for the school.


At the school, Sonny went his separate way to be with the Traffic Police Exhibition and photo-taking stall. I saw him walked off with confidence... his haversack slung on his shoulder while carrying an extra LCD monitor in the other hand, making his way to his Photo Booth located near the school's General Office.


He spent the entire day super-imposing photos taken there with customized frames he designed especially for the fair over several days before. We named this stall "You've Been Framed!" Complete with advert poster and the many frames catalogs the customers to choose from, posted on the exhibition stand.

The whole basketball court was already alive and buzzing with students giving final touches to their own food and games stalls... we were competing with our young competitors for the visitors' dollars... a dollar for a coupon.


Wifey and I continued setting-up the 4 games stalls which we already done most the evening before. It was a very proud feeling to be able to realize our games from concept to the ones sprawled in front of us across the court, ready to receive visitors to play.

We pretty much got all stalls set-up according to the concept as we envisioned, except for the two portable whiteboards we asked for were a little disappointing...


One was only 5 instead of 8 feet to stick our 7 feet "Stick 'Em Up" game board. We had to improvise with what we got immediately, and we got it working for us.

Another was 8 feet as requested, but turned out to be not magnetic friendly enough after we set it up.

Our "Ancient Puzzlers" pictures with magnetic strips at the back was not able to stick to the white board well as it did at home and at the school's conference room boards when we tried them. Yikes!

We resorted to laying the 3 puzzles on a student desk each to play the game instead.

The white board became just a display panel for the game stall and prizes. Fortunately we were able to avoid a disaster. Phew!


The fair was to start at 9:00AM, but by 8:30AM many visitors had already arrived and were browsing through the many stalls. A very good and effective marketing effort on the part of the school that impressed both Wifey and I.

Wifey's "Hooked-On Fishing" stall started off first a good 20 minutes before 9:00AM since several parents and students already asked to play.


I noticed our "MARBLEous P!cks" stall, tended by another DSP parent had also opened for business before the fair officially started too. It was very encouraging.

These two games stalls proved to be a big hit with the visitors. It turned our to be the busiest throughout the day!

I noticed Wifey and a DSP parent were always busy with the continuous flow of people wanting to play the fishing game.

They had students, kids and parents with their young children actually queuing to play the game while a large crowd gathered around the stall.

The most hectic was around lunch time.

I took over from the DSP parent partnering Wifey until after the fair was over at 3:00PM. Throughout that time, the stall had people queuing to play.

Amid all that chaos, Wifey had a cool head and did an excellent job of remembering each player's turn in the queue.


Yes, it looked crowded, chaotic and exhausting, but it was pure fun. We skipped our lunch just like last year, simply because did not feel hungry. Instead we enjoyed the interaction and were overwhelmed by the response people had with our fishing game .

The same was the situation at the marble-picking-with-chopstick game stall I noticed. I just hope they got to take their lunch... but from their expressions, they were having as much fun as we were.

As interesting a day it was today, something equally pleasant happened too. I met my local blog-reader face to face at the fair. The first one in my blogging life!


She was a Dunmanite and an Alumni who has been supporting the school with its activities since she graduated. She found my blog while searching for the keyword "Dunmanites" and has been following my blog since, but has never commented before.

We briefly chatted until Wifey hollered for help.

From our short conversation, I have an instinctive feeling that this beautiful and intelligent young lady has a bright and successful future ahead of her. Just hope she will leave a comment one of these days.


We are so grateful to our DSP Teacher, Mrs. Fong and the passionate school's principle Mrs Neo for taking care of the DSP parents with their personal attention during the event. They brought us drinks and lifted our spirits from time to time... always with those big, appreciative smiles. It made our efforts even more worth while.

After weeks of late nights creating and making props and running around competing with the neighbourhood Ah Peks scavenging for discarded carton boxes at the dumpsters... coupled with many weekends spent going from one shop to another looking for the right props and stuff to realize our proposals... the fun fair was truly the highlight of our efforts for a good cause.


We do not ask anything in return, but just smiles and joy we see from the receiving end.

As far as I am concern, it has been time well spent with my family together in a creative project. Bringing our ideas into reality, but really more of strengthening the family bond one completed prop at a time.


We were a minute part in the entire huge effort to make the school's event a wonderful experience for everyone. An event for a worthy cause, everyone hoping to make the lives of the less fortunate a little better.

As for me, my family reaped the benefits a little sooner... being together as a family, feeling the bond between us getting stronger as during the creative process, all the way culminating to actual event.

It was fun and beneficial to everyone involved. We are looking forward to more such events in the future.