Birthday Gifters
Receiving birthday presents is nothing new. But it’s not often that we hear about celebrants giving – or rechanneling – gifts for a good cause as a gesture of gratitude for the fortunate lives they have. They are the Birthday Gifters. They find more joy in giving than in receiving. WeeklySparks spoke to five such inspiring women, who chose to mark their special day in a meaningful way.
Cynthia Yim
“What do you want for your birthday this year?” A despondent Cynthia answered slowly, “Let’s do a fundraising project.” It was 2013. One of the strongest typhoons in the world, Typhoon Haiyan, hit the Philippines where Cynthia is originally from.
She was in no mood to celebrate the way she would typically: renting a ballroom in a plush hotel, serving her guests only the finest menu, and singing for them, too! (Cynthia has a mesmerizing voice and used to be a professional singer). So her friends went to work and organized A Glimpse of Hope, drawing up a guest list of the Who’s Who in legal circles: colleagues of her husband Jimmy Yim, clients at the helm of leading companies, and Cynthia’s enthusiastic, fun-loving friends. Two hundred people came together at the exclusive ONE°15 Marina Club on Sentosa Island (Singapore) and bid at the auction for art pieces, jewellery and hotel stays, or donated cash. By the time the party ended, Cynthia raised enough funds to build 40 houses for a whole village in Ormoc, Leyte, a coastal town in the southern Philippines that was one of the hardest hit by the typhoon, in collaboration with non-profit Gawad Kalinga. Gawad Kalinga (which means to “give care” in Pilipino) is a poverty-alleviation and nation-building movement that aims is to end poverty for five million families in the Philippines by 2024.
Images courtesy of Cynthia Yim
Two years later Cynthia and her friends took a trip to Leyte to turn over the keys to the newly built houses. In between the fundraising and handover ceremony, more people got involved in Cynthia’s initiative by way of acquiring the land, securing permits, and physically building those structures from scratch! At the handover ceremony, there were tears, hugs, and shrieks of joy. There was love.
Today people still talk about her hugely successful fundraising birthday party seven years ago. And in Ormoc, 40 families, who now feel safe and secure in the confines of their own homes, fondly remember Cynthia, who rained her generosity on them.
Carmen Seah
Images courtesy of Carmen Seah
“Mom, the grandmas, and grandpas I met really touched me. They seemed to be in need not only of food but also of care and affection,” lamented Carmen’s daughter Margarita, 20, who came home one day in 2017. She had just joined The Food Bank Singapore (FBS) and couldn’t wait to share with her mom, Carmen Seah, what her first week of work was like. This gave Carmen a brilliant idea of how to spend her birthday the following year.
Kindness is in Carmen’s DNA. Charity is something she believes in and she habitually exposed her three children to giving from a young age.
To celebrate her birthday in 2018, Carmen first raised money to donate to FBS, a centralised coordinating organisation that collects excess food from food suppliers, F&B establishments, companies, and schools, repacks and distributes them to the needy and less fortunate. FBS, in collaboration with the Peace-Connect Activity Centre, identified the needs of their senior members and made the items available.
Carmen invited close friends to repack the food. Close to 200 bundles were bagged that day. There was a cheerful atmosphere when the elderly residents formed orderly queues to receive their goody bags.
“It made me remember my own parents,” Carmen reflects. “I plan to do it again.”
Mikki Nicole
“I love food and everything about it. We love to feed people; it’s our thing,” enthused Mikki. She and French husband Antoine, who is an amazing cook, has volunteered extensively at Willing Hearts. But for her birthday last year, just before social activities were curtailed in Singapore due to Covid-19, Mikki organised a three-part celebration: FEED. FIT. FUN.
“YOU MUST DO ALL THREE ACTIVITIES WITH ME” Mikki’s invitation stated in all caps.
Chatting to me enthusiastically as if she was presenting a marketing proposal (she is Vice President for Marketing at Ricola Asia Pacific Pte Ltd), Mikki invited friends to, first, make a contribution to one of two charities in lieu of gifts.
Friends were encouraged to FEED others by donating to Willing Hearts in Singapore (a soup kitchen that prepares, cooks, and distributes daily meals across the island), or Friends of Hope Inc. in the Philippines, which was distributing clean water to victims of the Taal Volcano eruption.
Those who made a donation then joined the second activity: FIT. Donning neon tops, wigs, stripey headbands, and rainbow sneakers, guests sweated it out in a spinning class, Mikki’s new obsession. Antoine surprised her with an ‘80s theme, and everyone pumped it up and posed for the camera.
An hour later, having burned at least 600 calories, and changed into all-white beach attires, Mikki treated guests to FUN at FOC Sentosa for sunset nibbles and cocktails.
FEED, FIT, FUN. What a great concept for a meaningful birthday blast! It is no wonder that there is a request to do it yearly!
Images courtesy of Mikki Nicole
Tricia Duran
“Nature gives me so much. So why don’t I give back to it?” Tricia thought.
During the past pandemic-rejigged year, Tricia found herself spending more time in natural surroundings: walks in forests and parks, brunches at the beach, even just relaxing on the balcony of her apartment. The universe listened to her musings and presented her with a unique way to celebrate 2021: plant trees not only in Singapore but also in other areas of her choosing.
First, she volunteered at the OneMillionTrees movement of the Singapore National Parks. Anyone can sign up and when a location comes up you join if you are available. It’s a very organised system with the location identified, the tree supplied, planting tools loaned out, a bucket of water provided, and the soil is even loosened for you. What you need to do is to dig… and dig quite deep, as much as five feet (1.5 meters) when the tree to be planted is quite tall.
Images courtesy of Tricia Duran
“Sometimes I take off my shoes, just to feel the ground,” Tricia shares thoughtfully, having planted seven trees so far. Some locations are far away, but others are quite accessible.
“Along Alexandra Road, I remember which tree I planted so now when I drive by, it’s nice to see it thriving.” Tricia also wanted to introduce a well-being activity to her family, who are spread out in Australia, the US, Canada, the UK, Sweden, Spain, the Philippines, Hong Kong, and Singapore. She enrolled 23 family members in an app called Conqueror’s Challenge. You pick a challenge, for example climbing Mount Everest. Everyone does any activity wherever they are: walking, swimming, push-ups at home, etc. Each activity is converted into kilometres, which are added up until the team has accomplished the challenge. At the end of each challenge, you are awarded five trees to be planted on your behalf.
“My family has really enjoyed doing this together and our five trees were planted at the foot of Mount Everest. Right now, I am on a challenge to walk 235km along the Great Ocean Road in Australia and at the end of that I can plant five more trees.” Tricia is well on her way to achieving her goal. Mother Nature would be pleased.
Stephanie Grawehr
Steph was first introduced to Lihuk Panaghiusa when she assembled toiletries for a shoebox project during her elementary years at United World College, SEA. She came across the organisation again in her early teens when she saved some of her allowance to fund a scholar.
Lihuk Panaghiusa (Circle of Solidarity) is based in Cebu, Philippines where Steph’s mother is from. It seeks to keep children in school, especially when extreme poverty threatens this. Her scholar, Jessa, sent her letters, pictures and school reports, clearly making a lasting impression on Steph.
Fast forward to 2018. After university and a first job in Switzerland, Steph decided to take a delayed “gap year”. Turning 26 made her reflect on how to make her life more meaningful.
Images courtesy of Stephanie Grawehr
“I had a bucket list. I wanted to travel around Switzerland and see more of the country where my dad is from. I also wanted to go back to Cebu and reconnect with Lihuk Panaghiusa,” she says.
Steph has a talent for bringing her passions and purpose together. She found out what Lihuk needed at that time: to repair the gate and roof of their centre that was damaged by past typhoons, scholarships for the coming school year, and a wellbeing program to support the families of their scholars.
Steph submitted a proposal to Foundation Le Solstice (Switzerland) for consideration. If she cycled from Lake Geneva to Lake Constance in five days in what she called Cycling for Scholars, could the foundation donate the amount needed? Since this aligned with the foundation’s mission of supporting education causes, her proposal was approved.
Toward the end of 2018, Steph travelled to Cebu to handover her donation. She met and spent time with the scholars. She connected Lihuk to the Foundation for additional planning advice. She had also just finished a yoga teacher training course (also on her bucket list) and gave free classes to the mothers of the scholars.
Back in Switzerland, Steph is now working in a startup called Alaya. Alaya creates software that companies can use to engage employees through volunteering, donations and trying new positive habits. Recently, Steph initiated a project called Rhyming for Gender Equality, where she offered to write a personalised poem to anyone who provided the context (date or occasion for the poem) in exchange for a donation. All these creative experiences from her elementary days have shaped Steph whose chosen career is to contribute to others.
Steph is a gift that just keeps on giving: “We live in such challenging times. I feel really lucky that I have found meaningful work. We can’t not act.”
Roxanne | ws