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AWARE raises S$480,000 at its first-ever virtual charity ball celebrating 35 years of advocacy

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4 years ago

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In celebration of its 35th birthday, gender-equality group AWARE held a virtual fundraising gala, the AWAREHouse Party, on Saturday evening (28 Nov).

With official measures for COVID-19 limiting social gatherings to five guests, this year AWARE eschewed the hotel ballroom venue typical of its nine previous balls. The organisation instead arranged simultaneous parties at supporters’ houses across the island, united by a three-hour live-streamed programme and a multi-course feast catered by Grand Hyatt Singapore.

A total of 300 guests attended these intimate affairs, dressing up in colourful outfits for the theme of ‘OutRAGEous’.

By the end of the night, donations totaled S$480,000. This amount was raised through direct donations, a silent auction and raffle, as well as ticket sales for the AWAREHouse Party.

According to AWARE, the funds will go to its NextGen campaign, dedicated to nurturing a new cohort of change-makers, and ensuring that women and girls continue to receive essential assistance and support.

NextGen will enable the maintenance and expansion of AWARE’s services, and sustain AWARE’s research on caregiving, workplace harassment, migrant rights, and many other issues.

“It was such a privilege to celebrate this landmark anniversary with so many beloved guests, volunteers and members of the AWARE community,” said Corinna Lim, Executive Director at AWARE.

“Even though we were unable to get together in person, the enthusiasm from our supporters was palpable. During a difficult year, these moments of camaraderie and love give us an extra jolt of energy to keep going with AWARE’s advocacy and services – especially as we gear up for the upcoming landmark gender equality review,” she added.

AWAREHouse Party – Hosts Pam Oei and Becca D’Bus with Corinna Lim (Source: AWARE)

Much of the AWAREHouse Party programme centred on AWARE’s historical successes in advocating for gender equality. Guests watched a ‘Herstory‘ retrospective video with heartfelt testimonials from women and men whose lives had been touched by AWARE’s efforts over the years.

They also watched a montage of “Happy Birthday” wishes to AWARE, sent in by notable local names – from esteemed social scientist Noeleen Heyzer, influencer Preetipls, and sexual assault survivor Monica Baey to Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong and Minister of Law and Home Affairs K. Shanmugam.

A major highlight of the night was the Alamak! Awards, AWARE’s annual tongue-in-cheek “tribute” to the year’s most sexist incidents. As per tradition, musical satire group Chestnuts presented each of the four nominees in the form of hilarious song parodies.

This year’s nominees were the Telegram group SG Nasi Lemak, the podcast OKLETSGO, the gender pay gap, and the “potential” that is commonly believed to justify light sentences for perpetrators of violence against women.

As voted by Party guests and members of the public, the winner of this dubious honour was the “potential”.

Ms Lim noted that she was pleased that the Government had recently announced a review of the sentencing framework for such offenders.

AWAREHouse Party – Hosts Pam Oei and Becca D’Bus with Corinna Lim (Source: AWARE)

Other entertainment was delivered by hosts Pam Oei and Becca D’Bus; actresses Janice Koh and Petrina Koh, who regaled viewers with outrageous stories; as well as performers Nathan Hartono, Andrew Marko, and Oliver Ow, who improvised comedic musical numbers based on suggestions from guests. As the night drew to a close, a dance set by DJ Aldrin Quek kept guests on their feet.

Sponsors for the AWAREHouse Party included Bar @ Lorong 13, Grand Hyatt Singapore, Martell, Playground Studio, PPURPOSE, Shooting Gallery Asia, World Scientific, Kah Motor, KOP Limited, MUFG Investor Services, and Tan Ean Kiam Foundation.

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IMDA to probe Singtel’s island-wide landline outage of 8 October

The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) is investigating Singtel’s island-wide landline outage on 8 October, emphasising its commitment to thoroughly examining any public telecommunications service interruption. A Singtel spokesperson described the outage as an “isolated incident,” adding that there is “no evidence to suggest it is a cyber-related event.”

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2 days ago

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9 October 2024

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On 8 October 2024, a significant landline outage affected Singtel customers across the island.

According to Lianhe Zaobao, the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) stated that it takes any public telecommunications service interruption seriously and will investigate the incident thoroughly.

In a Facebook update at 8:25 PM on the same day, Singtel announced that its fixed voice services had been fully restored.

The telecommunications provider expressed its apologies for the disruption and the inconvenience caused to customers.

Earlier, the disruption also impacted emergency call services, affecting both the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) and the Singapore Police Force (SPF).

Members of the public experiencing difficulties reaching emergency numbers 995 or 999 were advised to send an SMS to SCDF at 70995 or SPF at 70999.

Both SPF and SCDF later reported on 7PM that the earlier disruption affecting the 995 and 999 emergency hotlines has been resolved.

The authorities assured the public that they could resume using these hotlines for emergencies and expressed gratitude for the public’s understanding during the outage.

Earlier that day, around noon, multiple users reported difficulties making calls through landlines on Singtel’s official Facebook page and X (formerly Twitter), including problems with office lines.

A check on Downdetector revealed a surge in outage reports for Singtel beginning around 2 PM, peaking at 2,781 complaints. By 5 PM, the number of reports had decreased to over 500.

According to the feedback on Downdetector, most of the problems faced by users pertain to landlines, which matches the responses from netizens on social media platforms.

Major institutions were also affected by the outage. KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH), the National Cancer Centre, and Changi General Hospital (CGH), all under SingHealth, alerted the public to the disruption.

By approximately 6:30 PM, all three institutions confirmed that their telephone services had been restored.

Additionally, Singapore’s three local banks—DBS, UOB, and OCBC—reported similar issues with their customer service hotlines during the outage.

According to CNA, a spokesperson from Singtel described the outage as an “isolated incident” and stated that there is “no evidence to suggest it is a cyber-related event.”

 

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Emergency phone services restored following Singtel landline outage

Both the Singapore Police Force (SPF) and Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) announced at 7 PM on 8 October that the disruption affecting 995 and 999 hotlines had been resolved. This followed Singtel’s island-wide landline outage earlier that day. The public can now resume using the hotlines for emergencies.

Published

3 days ago

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8 October 2024

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SINGAPORE: Both the Singapore Police Force (SPF) and Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) announced via Facebook at around 7:00 PM on 8 October that the earlier disruption affecting the 995 and 999 emergency hotlines has been resolved.

The issue followed an island-wide outage of Singtel’s landline services, which occurred around noon.

The authorities confirmed that the public can now resume using the hotlines for emergencies and expressed their gratitude for the public’s understanding during the disruption.

At 5:07 PM, Singtel posted an update on Facebook stating that their engineers had isolated the problem affecting their fixed voice services.

The telco provider added that recovery measures were swiftly being deployed, and services were progressively being restored.

Earlier, users had taken to Singtel’s official Facebook page and X (formerly Twitter) to report difficulties making landline calls, including issues with office lines.

A check on Downdetector revealed a surge in outage reports for SingTel starting around 2 PM.

According to the feedback on Downdetector, most of the problems faced by users pertain to landlines, which matches the responses from netizens on social media platforms.

Major institutions were also affected by the outage. KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH), the National Cancer Centre, and Changi General Hospital (CGH), all under SingHealth, alerted the public to the disruption.

By approximately 6:30 PM, all three institutions confirmed that their telephone services had been restored.

Additionally, Singapore’s three local banks—DBS, UOB, and OCBC—reported similar issues with their customer service hotlines during the outage.

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