~ ANDY's Wizard-WoRlD^^: August 2015

Picture I : the backdrop / photo booth design of the logo of Jog for Hope 2015

designed and made by me (Andy) and Anna with the help of the committee members. ^^

Event Proposal : Jog for Hope 2015

Objectives :

I would like to be a part of the Jog for Hope 2015 committee, a non-profit charity run organizer, which operates mainly by students from Cambridge A-levels Programme, International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP), and South Australia Matriculation (SAM) in Taylor’s College Sri Hartamas (TCSH). The beneficiary of this event is Siddharthan Care Centre and Sintharmani Divine Life Ashram, homes for underprivileged children. I would like to work hand in hand with the other members of the committee to make this event a success and achieve the ultimate goal of the event – charity. I believe that joining the committee and getting involved in fund-raising event like this by attracting more participants, handling the route planning of the run, and making sure that the flow of the event runs well will definitely enable me to engage with issues of global importance – in this case, prevalent poverty in every single corner of the world, to be able to do something to change other people’s life and to contribute to the society. Apart from that, being in a part of the committee, I also would like to raise public awareness pertaining the importance of regular exercises in our daily life which is tantamount to the significance of healthy lifestyle in our eyes.

Activity Description :

Jog for Hope is an annual jogathon held by students in TCSH in a bid to help the less fortunate people of the beneficiary of the year. For 2015, it was anticipated to have 2000+ runners, comprised of professionals, amateurs and those who run for charity and for fun, to participate in such a meaningful event. A committee is set up since the very beginning of the year to ensure the progress of the planning of the event so that the event would be a great success. The committee members would be further separated into a few departments, ranging from the Administrative Department, Finance and Sponsorship Department to the Marketing and Publicity Department and the Route Planning Department. All the departments work together in harmony to delegate the jobs and to make sure the event would run as scheduled.

Time :

8^th July 2015 – 19^th August 2015

Location :

Taylor’s College Sri Hartamas (TCSH)

Supervisor :

Ms Valar, the ECA Administrative; Mr Thina, the Programme Officer; Ms Lauren, the Principal of TCSH.

Goal :

Work collaboratively to achieve a pledge amount of RM 15, 000 to the beneficiary homes (Siddharthan Care Centre and Sintharmani Divine Life Ashram).
Able to put in effort consistently and be committed throughout the event, constantly attending committee meetings and to come out with solutions when different problems arise and willing to stay back to do extra work without neglecting and losing track on our taxing academic routine.
Delegate jobs and assign tasks based on the forte of each member.
Be aware of my weakness in planning and working as a team with others.
Able to identify shortcomings and state suggestions for future improvements.
Able to take everyone's opinion into consideration. Be tolerant and open-minded,

Impact :

Financially aids Siddharthan Care Centre and Sintharmani Divine Life Ashram whilst creating public awareness pertaining the welfare of the kids in the homes.
Raise awareness in TCSH and other educational institutions about the importance and the advantages of community work.
I am aware of my shortcomings, which includes the ineffectiveness in communication can cause lots of problems. I have to hone my skills in effective communication to avoid misunderstanding.
A great experience which taught us all the importance of teamwork and friendship.
What I hope to learn/ gain:

Organizing and planning skills
interpersonal skills
A deeper and more holistic understanding of poverty, as well as measure that could be taken to actually help alleviate it.

Timeline :

8^th July – 8^th August 2015

Early stage of Event Preparation (Publicizing the event, getting more participants, getting sponsorship, etc.)

9^th – 15^th August 2015

Last week of Event Preparation (Goodies bags packing, route planning: volunteers briefing, checkpoint ribbons tying, indoor and outdoor setup, road signs preparation, etc. )

16^th August 2015

Jog for Hope 2015 Event Day

19^th August 2015 onwards

Post Mortem of the event and writing of Job Description, and suggestions for the future organizing committee. Doubling checking the receipts and the online database to determine the financial errors.

*****************************************************

Picture II : Jog for Hope 2015 Official Logo Design

CAS Reflection : Jog for Hope 2015

Date : 31^st August 2015

I got to know about Jog for Hope (JFH) ever since the very first week of days in TCSH, when I started my International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme in July 2015. Along with quite a number of my new IBDP friends, we went ahead for the interview and joined the committee of JFH 2015. Therefore, I can proudly claim that JFH 2015 marked the commencement of my extracurricular life in TCSH.

Picture III : Jog for Hope 2015 Official Flyers

At the early stage of the event preparation, things were quite to us as the new member of the committee. It was very challenging as we have to learn new things and to make friends with the old members of the committee. Bonding of a team always plays a crucial part in determining how success an event would be. It was lucky to us that we didn’t have too many hard times to be friends. In fact, it didn’t take us long for us to be have outing trips together to the nearby parks and neighbouring housing areas to give out flyers and registration forms to the public to get more participants for the event. Even though most of us weren’t a member of Marketing and Publicity Department, we work collaboratively with one another in publicizing the event in order to gain more participants. We know, that only by getting more participants, we can raise more money for the kids at the beneficiary homes.

As members of the committee, we meet once every week on Wednesday to discuss about the progress of each department. The punctuality and commitment of each member is required; a fruitful meeting would only follow suit a meeting with full attendance. Out of the many departments within Jog for Hope 2015 committee, I opted to be in the Route Planning department because I was interested in handling the logistics of the event. Personally, I felt that it was a challenging department to be in owing to the huge role and responsibility the department plays throughout the event. The Route Planning Department is in charge of the planning of the route for the runners, the flow of the event day as well as the delegation of job to the volunteers and other committee members on the event day.

Picture IV & V : One of our home visit to Siddharthan Care Centre.

Picture VI :
Rakcana with one of the little girl with big dreams
in Siddharthan Care Centre.

On the 18^th of July 2015, we paid a visit to one of the beneficiary home, Siddharthan Care Centre and had some activities with the kids over there. One of the activities planned and did with them is that we gave them a piece of blank paper and requested them to draw anything that would make them happy. Unexpectedly, most of them drew their dreams, their ambitions on that piece of paper. All of them have ordinary and yet big dreams just like all of us. Living in penury doesn’t make them less human or more human than us. Such a fact disturbed me the most as poverty is one of the key factors that hinder them from achieving their goals and dreams. Without sufficient fund, the homes could hardly provide necessities to them for life sustenance, let alone proper education and skills support system. Only then, I realized how fortunate I am to be given the opportunity carry on my Pre-University education with International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme in TCSH under Bursary SPM 2014 granted to me by the Ministry of Education Malaysia.

Picture VII : The pace rabbits for the run.

The day of the event was approaching fast. The final week was particularly stressful as there were many untied ends yet to be resolved. It was a huge relief that many of the committee members were able and willing to spend extra time to help out in brainstorming and preparing for the event. Working collaboratively with the team was one of the best experiences I had so far as I could really feel their support and enthusiasm thrusting me forward, spurring me on, to persevere till the very end of the event. It goes without saying that the event would not have been so successful without everyone in committee chipping in and assisting each other. The seed of team spirit sown ever since the very beginning of the preparation stage germinated and grew well into a healthy sprout, carrying up higher towards our goal like the Jack’s giant beanstalk, penetrating every hurdle and obstacle we faced in the process.

Picture VIII : Route Planning Team staying back late to tie ribbons for checkpoint stations.

Picture IX : The result of getting overwhelmed by ribbons.

Picture X : After working endlessly, and tediously like human factory from the night before until 5 a.m. in the morning next day, we finally managed to tie up to 3300++ ribbons. We dropped dead right after that task.

Picture XI : Alex and Andy (Me) helping out at the JFH T-shirt distribution booth.

Picture XII : The committee member on duty at the T-shirt Distribution booth.

Picture XIII & XIV: Goodies bags packing like a factory also. All Jog for Hope 2015 committee members \
and staff advisers were to pack 2200 goodies bags for the participants.

Picture XV : Moving the goodies bags from Alpha theater to the library.
Alex accepted the challenge to carry 90 bags in one go. Ha-ha!

The day before the event, all of us didn't sleep at all. We spent the whole day (and night) decorating the place, managing registration counters and bag deposit counters, going through repeatedly the flow of the event, revising the way we should delegate jobs to the volunteers and etc. Designing and putting up the road signs on the whole 10 km running route 4 hours before the event (around 2 o'clock in the morning!) was one of the most exhaustive but interesting task led by us, the Route Planning Department. We were like walking zombies zooming across the road in the middle of the night, struggling to recognize the places we have to tie road signs and boards that indicate the route distance, whilst trying really hard not to doze off. Ha-ha!

Picture XVI : Me and the jog for Hope photo booth logo I made.

Picture XVII : The goodies bags and t-shirt stacked together before the event day.

Picture XVIII : Eugene helping out on thew night before the run. We were making road signs and
board indications for the participants. It's 1 o'clock in the morning.

Picture XIX : Gathering at the main entrance of the college before going out to tie road signs
along the entire 10 km route. Emily was so excited! It's 2 o'clock in the morning

On the event day itself, I was in charge of the bag deposit department. Before that, I have to learn how to make a floor plan to allocate more than 2000 bags in the limited space provided. To maximize the space, we used masking tape to mark the space for bags from participants running for 3 different categories. I would have to work hand-in-hand with the administrative department, to speculate which category would have the most participants bringing bags to be deposited in the area. As the head of Bag Deposit department, I have to learn how to explain my plan to other teammates and volunteers on the day in a concise way so that they know what they are supposed to do without wasting too much time on thinking and wondering what I’d said.

Picture XX : Team Bag Deposit working on the floor plan.
Using masking tape to make margins for the bags from different categories.

Picture XXI : The floor plan when it's finally done. It does look like a parking lot.
The day before Jog for Hope is the only day in the year, i suppose,
the student central is so spacious and clean. Ha-ha.

Picture XXII : Team Bag Deposit 2 hours before the Event

(without Me, the head of Bag Deposit Department because I'm taking the pictures T.T)

From left (sitting): Jeen, Janet and Alicia. Back : Siva and Quin

Picture XXIII : Quin looking for bags for the participants. (Queen of the Bags - Pun detected! > <)

Picture XXIV : Heaps of bags on the day of event!

Picture XXV : Team Bag Deposit
(Top from Left : Siva, Quin, Shen-Li, Andy(Me); Bottom : Janet and Alicia -- I don't know where's Jeen)

Picture XXVI : Bag Deposit Team started to get really busy an hour before the run.

Picture XXVII : JOG FOR HOPE
*** A FOOT FORWARD FOR CHARITY ***

All in all, JFH has been a very meaningful and enriching experience working together as a team with every manpower we contrived to gather on the event day. Such encounter has taught me how selflessness and dedication in community work do help alleviate the burdens of the poor. It was a truly touching moment when the two RM30, 000 mock cheques were presented to the persons-in-charge of the homes. Though we were really tired, shackled by iron chains of lethargy by the end of the award ceremony of the event, we were elated. We can literally feel exuberance bubbling in our veins when we got to know we hit our target of RM15, 000 (RM7, 500 to each beneficiary home) and went ever more than what we expected. RM 60, 000 raised – the fruit of our labour; our effort definitely paid off. I’m grateful, that I’m given the chance to be a part of the JFH 2015 committee. I really appreciate that.