It’s been 25 days now since my first post on my pledge to raise funds to buy Goo Tyng Tong a hospital bed, under the TLC Promise Me campaign. The support I’ve received in the past 22 days has been nothing less than enormous.

The current amount now stands at RM3500 RM3900, not including other pledges of donations that amount to RM1000, which would increase the amount to RM4900!! That’s almost 5 times the initial target! Looks like there’s some space for a 2nd bed :)

This is truly a humbling experience for myself. I gotta admit, you guys are not just helping Goo but is doing me a HUGE favour too. I’ve never felt better in my life. Even the boyfriend has noticed a difference to my personality; according to him I’m displaying much less madness since I undertook the pledge. Being surrounded by so much kindness does make you view the world in a different light.

# – This is a PSA shot by Bernama for the campaign.

Here’s the latest list of private donors and corporate sponsors:

# – Had to make a new chart to accommodate the stratospheric increase ;)

A lot of people have asked me if I’ve got enough funds but to be honest, please keep them coming. With the amount raised so far, we could definitely get Goo a more than decent bed but as long as we’re still in the fund raising period, I’d love to get as much as possible so that it’s possible to get a 2nd, even 3rd bed for the other kids in similar plight at the centre.

# – With Goo.

If you’re interested in supporting me with this initiative you can do so by taking up a one-time only offer of publicity packages on this website:

-140px*245px Banner Ad (online for 30 days) with one dedicated advertorial/review: RM800 [2 spots available]

-Text link ad on side bar under the title “Caring Supporters” (online for 30 days) with one mini advertorial (combined write-ups with a maximum of 5 sponsors in one post): RM 200 [6 spots available]

For enquiries, email me at kimberlycun[]gmail.com

Thanks again for the support everyone. I can’t thank you enough but please know that you’ve made a wonderful difference to Goo’s life.

Read about the journey of this initiative here:

• All it takes is one promise.
• TLC Promise Me Pledge Update #1
• You’ll never walk alone.
• TLC Promise Me Pledge Update #2

Thanks to the generosity of my friends and readers of this blog, this initiative has managed to raise a total of RM2500 to date. On behalf of Goo Tyng Tong, thank you all so much. This amount is more than enough to get a decent hospital bed for him. In fact if the final amount permits, I’d try to get another unit of bed for the benefit of the kids at Handicapped and Mentally Disabled Children’s Association of Johor.

Here is the list of private donors and corporate sponsors:

# – RM2500 raised to date.

Today I went to Ampang to visit Goo with my mother. The centre, tucked in a quiet and peaceful residential area is actually a 2nd branch of the Association, which main centre is located in Johor.

# – The centre.

# – Selangor Handicapped and Mentally Disabled Children Centre.

It is my first time visiting such a centre and the scene there really tugged at my heartstrings. It’s heartening to know that there are people such as Mr. Chan who dedicates his entire life into caring for these children instead of chasing material comforts.

# – Mr. Chan, who has worked at the centre for more than 10 years, around the time it was first established.

By the way, Mr. Chan is an avid collector of vinyls/LP, he even happily played a song from his beautiful gramophone for me and mom. If you have any unwanted LPs or vinyls, please feel free to pass them on to Mr. Chan at 016 381 7261, just to make a kind man with a humble hobby happy eh :)

Mr. Chan introduced me to Goo, a handsome 17 year old with a debilitating condition since birth. He has severe muscle atrophy which makes his 17 year old frame much smaller than it should be. He is unable to register complex conversations or words but would respond to simple phrases. For instance, when Mr. Chan asked him to smile, he did it with gusto :)

# – Goo Tyng Tong.

Goo currently sleeps on a basic single bed. When I told him that we’re getting him a new bed, he seemed to respond cheerfully to that :)

# – A picture with Goo.

If you’re interested in supporting me with this initiative you can do so by taking up a one-time only offer of publicity packages on this website:

• 140px*245px Banner Ad (online for 30 days) with one dedicated advertorial/review: RM800 [3 spots available]
• Text link ad on side bar under the title “Caring Supporters” (online for 30 days) with one mini advertorial (combined write-ups with a maximum of 5 sponsors in one post): RM 200 [8 spots available]

Visit TLC Promise Me for information about this pledge campaign. For sponsorship enquiries and interest in supporting this particular initiative, please email me at kimberlycun[]gmail.com

You can read about my initiative at these links:

• All it takes is one promise.
• TLC Promise Me Pledge Update #1
• You’ll never walk alone.

Yesterday, a kind-hearted gentleman offered to match what I had raised so far Goo’s hospital bed funds and gave me RM400. As much as I like to tell the world how awesome he is, he insisted on being anonymous.

This morning, I received an email from a stranger who offered to donate RM700 to Goo. Within 2 minutes the money was already transfered to my bank account. He wants to be known as “Liverpool FC Fan”.

Later on, an email came in from a lovely friend whom I’ve never met but whose delicious blog I have read since Xanga times offering to donate RM200 to the initiative. We share the same name too. Thanks Kimberly from Kimberly :)

While drafting this very blog post, another email arrived from a stranger offering to donate RM200. I am speechless. Thank you so much, Ms Paige K.

I am truly humbled by the generosity of these people. I admit I have been cynical from the start with this initiative. Selfishly, I’ve gained a lot of emotional satisfaction from doing this pledge, thanks everyone for giving this priceless experience to me.

# – It’s almost off the chart!!

The official amount of money raised now stands at RM1900.

I really believe it now, that you’ll never walk alone.

Thank you all for the support.

Learn about the initiative to raise funds for Goo to get a hospital bed here:

TLC Promise Me Pledge Update #1
All it takes is one promise.

As many of you who already know, I’m currently raising funds to buy a hospital bed for Goo Tyng Tong (of Handicapped and Mentally Disabled Children’s Association of Johor) under the TLC Promise Me Campaign.

# – TLC Promise Me Campaign launch on 5 July 2010 at Bangsar Shopping Centre.

My minimum target is RM1000 and so far I have managed to raise RM400 through offering publicity space on this website. I would like to thank The Pop Look, my most favourite online clothing store and Queen Chloset, an online store that sells beautifully crafted corsets for being onboard and so keen and passionate about helping me with this initiative. Please do check out the stuff from these caring proprietors :)

As fate would have it, a very kind man, who has requested to remain anonymous has also donated RM400 to Goo’s hospital bed funds. I am deeply moved by his gesture and I wish that all great and wonderful things to happen to him. With his generous donation, I’m only RM200 away from the targetted minimum of RM1000. On behalf of Goo, thank you so much, Mr. C :)

It doesn’t stop at RM1000, I do have about 20 days more to go to raise more money, so I could get Goo the best bed he can have.

# – Almost hitting the target of minimum RM1000.

If you’re interested in supporting me with this initiative you can do so by taking up a one-time only offer of publicity packages on this website:

-140px*245px Banner Ad (online for 30 days) with one dedicated advertorial/review: RM800 [3 spots available]

-Text link ad on side bar under the title “Caring Supporters” (online for 30 days) with one mini advertorial (combined write-ups with a maximum of 5 sponsors in one post): RM 200 [8 spots available]

For enquiries, email me at kimberlycun[]gmail.com

I’ll be meeting Goo this weekend and hope he’ll be happy to find out that the fund-raising for his hospital bed is doing well :)

Thanks for all your support, guys!

++ Update ++

Have managed to hit RM1900!!! Read about it here :)

The impact of a promise honoured is very powerful. All it takes is just one person, such as you and I, to promise and follow through a simple act of kindness and we could make a world of difference to the lives of the less fortunate.

With this in mind, the Truly Loving Company (TLC) is launching “TLC Promise Me“, a platform to engage the community for charitable causes. Promise Me is about gathering and distributing the energy of the community in helping the less fortunate, disabled and underprivileged in our society.

# – The Truly Loving Company (TLC)

By giving everyone an opportunity to fulfill the different wishes of the less fortunate, TLC Promise Me aims to amass as many caring participants as possible to pledge their promises to help these people. I suppose you can look at TLC Promise Me as something like a matchmaking service for pledgers and wishes. Some of the wishes may be easily materialised and others may require some effort from the pledger but under TLC Promise Me, every wish is equally deserving and participants can choose to pledge for wishes that they are most capable and comfortable of achieving.

# – TLC Promise Me Campaign

Whether it’s an orphan who wishes to learn how to ride a bicycle or an elderly stroke patient hoping to hang out at Starbucks, you can help make a difference to their lives by pledging a promise and following through with it. Through TLC Promise Me, everyone can have the opportunity to touch someone’s life and gain an insight into their less privileged situations.

Personally, I have pledged to raise funds to buy a hospital bed for Goo Tyng Tong, a bed-ridden 17-year-old under the care of Handicapped and Mentally Disabled Children’s Association of Johor (one of the charity partners of TLC). Born in Kota Kinabalu in 1993, he’s only a a year junior to my youngest brother. I can’t imagine how hard it is to be constrained by your own body and I think for him to have a proper hospital bed would greatly improve his daily life.

Sometimes, I do wonder what’s the use of this blog other than to satisfy my craving for attention and to earn some money through advertorials so this time, I’m really happy that there are people like those from TLC who can give me the opportunity to use this website as an outlet to do something more meaningful than posting inane pictures of myself. I’ve been blogging since 2003 and I hope especially readers who’ve been with me through thick and thin can see how important this is to Goo and myself and hopefully, you guys could help me, help him.

I’ve already got some ideas on how to raise funds but if you have any in mind, feel free to state your suggestions in the comment box below. Every suggestion taken and every contribution will be duly credited during this entire process.

TLC Promise Me will be officially launched on 5th July 2010 at 4.00 pm, Bangsar Shopping Centre Concourse. It will be officiated by Dato’ Sri Shahrizat Binti Abdul Jalil, the Minister of Women, Family and Community Development. If you would like to find out more about this campaign and on how you can help, do drop by the launch.

Venue: Bangsar Shopping Centre Concourse
Date: 5 July 2010, Monday
Time: 4pm

One month to getting Goo a proper hospital bed. Wish me luck as this is my promise to him and I intend to fulfill it.

++ UPDATE ++

• TLC Promise Me Pledge Update #1
• You’ll never walk alone.
• TLC Promise Me Pledge Update #2
• TLC Promise Me Pledge Update #3

This Saturday, I’m joining a bunch of bloggers/tweeple at MSN Training Stadium, Bukit Jalil for Relay for Life Kuala Lumpur (lets refer to it as #RelayKL from now onwards).

Organised by the The National Cancer Society of Malaysia, Relay for Life is an event where everyone in the community join in the fight against cancer. It began in 1985 in Tacoma, Washington when Dr Gordon Klatt walked for 24 hours to raise money for the American Cancer Society. He raised $27,000 that first year. Since then, Relay for Life events around the world have raised billion dollars to support programmes eliminating cancer.

Niki himself has kickstarted a social media initiative to recruit more bloggers and tweeple such as you and I to participate in #RelayKL. It it weren’t for Niki, I would not have any idea what this event is about or had any desire to participate in it. So thanks for initiating this Niki!

# – With Niki and Meem, Marcom Manager of National Cancer Society Malaysia.

To be honest, at first, I thought #RelayKL was like an actual endurance running event but I was so wrong. It’s a relay of all kinds of fun activities; performances, entertainment and yes some running, hehe but the general idea is to keep the track bustling with activities from 6pm to 10am the next day. Sounds like fun!

I’m doing this for my great grandfather, my grandfather, my grandfather’s brother and niece, all whom had passed on due to cancer. I can only imagine the amount of support and comfort that cancer survivors as well as friends & family of the victims could draw from this event and I’m glad I could be part of something so meaningful.

So, do come to MSN Training Stadium, Bukit Jalil on this Saturday to support #RelayKL. The participation fee for this event is only RM15, you get a free t-shirt and you get to join in the fun with fellow bloggers/tweeple.

Where & When?

From: 6pm, 29 May 2010 (Saturday)
To: 10am, 30 May 2010 (Sunday)
At: MSN Training Stadium, Bukit Jalil

By the way, Niki has arranged for a couple of tents for us to hang out in between activities so if you would like to join these tents, please drop an email with your contact details to relayforlife@nikicheong.com (do mention if you came from this website).

If you’re very busy, the other way to support #RelayKL is via fundraising. You can donate directly into the National Cancer Society Malaysia’s CIMB Clicks account by clicking here. And fear not if you’re not a CIMB customer, you can still use the service. Feel free to encourage your friends and family to do the same.

Hope to see you guys there this Saturday!

+++Update+++

Ernie, monster from hell of Selayang Dog Pound has admitted that she seizes people’s unlicensed dogs by force. Obviously, when she runs out of stray dogs to torture, she makes it a mission to invade people’s homes and take away their beloved pets. This is despicable! I believe in karma and refrain from cursing people but I hope when she dies she gets torn apart by 5 dogs over and over again so she could relive her pain for all eternity.

Ernie – contact number: 013 6064 446.

Read all about it HERE.

————————————————————————

Before you go and have a great, satisfying lunch, take a look at these pictures and see what is our government’s stance on animal rights.

Dirty & scared.

Skin & bones.

Dead.

Fresh captive. Can you imagine his fate in the next few weeks?

Someone’s beloved pet (note the collar) that was forcefully captured and mistreated to death at Selayang Dog Pound.

Discarded like common rubbish.

Left to rot.

Tick haven.

I know this is a Muslim country and dogs are considered un-halal but is this how you treat one of your God’s creatures?? I hate to pull religion into the picture but have you seen anything like this done to cats? No. In Malaysia we have cat shows in shopping malls even so don’t tell me that there is no bias and no discrimination against dogs.

Once, we brought a well-behaved dog to an outdoor driving range and deliberately got a corner spot at the far end out of respect but what did we get in return? Dirty looks and yelling from a single muslim patron who claimed that DOGS ARE NOT ALLOWED BECAUSE THERE ARE MUSLIMS AROUND. Trained to not disturb strangers notwithstanding, the dog was on a leash. What was the poor mutt going to do? Bite through her leash and carress his sacred and holy Muslim feet with her perfectly dry fur?

Not to mention, the imbecile’s was playing about 15 metres away from us (that’s about 6 or 7 people away) and our dog offended him? Everybody else was fine with the dog, including the owner of the place but because of this lone, narrow-minded, uneducated Muslim Malaysian, we had to remove the dog and ourselves from the driving range. Diplomacy in this country? Please! As long as we allow the stupid minority which keeps playing the religion card to dictate how we live, our country will never progress further than what shit-hole it already is in now.

But our dogs are lucky. We are around to protect them. What about those that have no masters or accidentally lost theirs? Who protect them? Ladies and gentlemen you have people like Selayang Dog Pound above “doing the job”. What kind of sick human being could do the above to these animals? Criminal profilers would tell you that murderers often loved to torture animals when they’re young. So what does this make of our fully-grown Malaysian adults doing exactly the same thing as murderers would in their youth?

Here are some excerpts from Malaysia Dogs Deserve Better on their investigation into Selayang Dog Pound:

We were told that the Selayang local council officer in charge of the pound Ernie – contact number: 0136064446 does not even let owners look for their dogs at the pound. She does not allow anyone to enter and this was clearly indicated when even the SPCA officials that included a vet, was not allowed entry into the pound yesterday.

We spent more than two hours speaking with MPS councilor Gunaraj, who later conformed after his visit to the pound that the dogs were indeed in a dire state. Other councilors narrated to us how every time the issue of dogs was brought-up at the full board meetings – the council people would shrug it off and even crack jokes.

Sometimes I feel like your God is testing your level of humanity by imposing such ridiculous rule that dogs (or specifically WET dogs) are dirty so He can see what a fool you are following something so blindly and allowing man’s best friends to deteriorate to such sad degrees. WHOEVER THAT PERPETUATE THIS CRUELTY YOU ARE ALL GOING TO HELL.

Please, have a heart & spread the word about this monstrosity that is happening right at our backyard and always, always keep your dogs/pets safe.

Read more at Malaysia Dogs Deserve Better.

Help by donating to:

Cheques in favour of:

Community Development and Integration Initiative Bhd (654290-T)

and mail it to:

c/o No 48, Jalan Jeriji U8/75C, Bukit Jelutong, 40150, Shah Alam, Selangor.

Or bank into:

Community Development and Integration Initiative Bhd

Public Bank Account Number: 3151793708.

Details: 019-3576477, 012-3739007, 017-2081844