Bringing you heartwarming tales of colleagues across SGH who worked very hard to raise an unprecedented $108,000 at SGH Charity Bazaar.

 

What has papadum (thin crispy cracker) and the SGH Charity Bazaar have in common?  Well, more than 500 papadums were sold by our colleagues from Admitting Services at the recent SGH Charity Bazaar. You may think that frying papadums would be an easy feat, but colleagues, Sundari and Thirvchelvi, found out how wrong they both were!

“As the papadum is very thin, one must fry a single piece of papadum at a time and flip it quickly to ensure its crispiness.  We had to throw away dozens of papadums because a delay of ten seconds in cooking would result in an entire room being filled with smoke! After an hour, it felt like the ‘haze’ had descended upon my home and it reeked of papadum everywhere,” quipped Sundari as she shared her experience of frying the crispy crackers. 

This, and many other heartwarming tales were shared by colleagues from the various departments who worked very hard to raise an unprecedented $108,000 during the recent SGH Charity Bazaar in early September. Many woke up in the middle of the night to cook a variety of food to sell at the bazaar to raise funds for the needy.


 
‘Head chef’, Senior Nurse Manager Kamsiah from Ward 52B also showed SGH that she could truly whip up a great Shepherd’s pie with a combination of delectable ingredients such as chopped lamb, chicken, beef, and russet potatoes mashed with milk, fresh cream and herb toppings!



A crowd favourite, SNM Kamsiah shared her Shepherd’s pie secret recipe with her colleagues who took on multiple roles such as potato peelers, bakers and packers to produce a staggering 500 shepherd pies over a week. It was so popular that her Shepherd pies did not even make it outside the room during the week.  “As soon as the pies were baked, we had eager customers at the ward waiting in line to buy it for tea-time snacks.  The aroma of the savoury chicken/beef and flaky crust must have drawn them to us,” said SNM Kamsiah.  Step aside Jamie Oliver!


 
SNM Kamsiah shared that raising funds for President’s Challenge has become a team-building activity with everyone playing a role. Several staff who live across the causeway lugged many cans of condensed milk, sugar and fancy bottles to make delicious Thai milk tea, which also sold out in seconds.  

 


To top it off, our Ward 52B colleagues came up with an exclusive packaging called ‘Le Cerveau’ (The Brain) alluding to their ward’s Neurosurgery discipline.
 
Renal Support Group led by Nurse Clinician Amy Lim took it one step further by buying a hotdog grilling machine to make scrumptious hotdogs topped with ketchup, chilli and mustard. The “Hotdog Happy Meal” with a serving of healthy fruit and water generated over $3,000 at the charity bazaar.  

 
Colleagues from other Departments bought souvenirs, and wares from holiday trips abroad to re-sell at a higher price for a charitable cause. Staff also donated all their pre-loved items which were eagerly snapped up by our staff. 

“What is heart-warming is that colleagues from various departments chipped in to buy from one another and also cross-sell their own food items, some paying double the amount for a good cause,” said Senior Nurse Clinician Saraswathi, a veteran Charity Bazaar fundraiser. “Indeed, it is very heartening to see the younger staff taking up the mantle to raise funds for the needy beneficiaries and encouraging their colleagues to come forward as volunteers and cooks!” 


 
Into its 20th year, more than 250 staff volunteered at the recent SGH Charity Bazaar. Proceeds from the Bazaar went to the President’s Challenge 2019 and the Nurses Volunteer Fund. Do look out for the next edition in September 2020 and we hope to see more departments participating in this iconic event.

 

We love mail! Drop us a note at lighternotes@sgh.com.sg to tell us what you like or didn’t like about this story, and what you would like to see more of in LighterNotes.