It was another totally fantastic day!
This time,it was just Mary and me. Mary picked me up from my house with the stuff and off we went to Sunway Pyramid. We reached there punctually at 10am and started setting up our booth.
As soon as we had got ourselves ready, people were already buying our tshirts and looking at our books.
Soon, our top sales manager, Amy, arrived! YAY!
Lots of children were attracted to our write-ups. They stopped to read - now, isn't that nice? A few minutes of reading is education enough. Good things will follow suit.
Top sales persons, Amy and Mary, weaving their magic. Actually, I only had Mary and Amy today.
The other NGOs.
MDDB brought a little puppy who was slightly disabled. The puppy was adopted!
This is MDDB's mascot cat.
Ahh...when I see children, I see hope. This little girl is asking her mum to explain things.
She listens intently as her mum reads the captions to her and explains it.
Amy weaves her magic....hi little one, would you like a tshirt?
In between, the little one is still more interested in the stories, so that's when I do my bit to explain what we do. The mum is now also interested, thanks to her little one.
"I want the tshirt, mummy, can I, please?"
Mummy buys.
YAY...for the animals!
Our stock for the day.
We sold 81 pieces, so that would be total of 160 pieces in two days. Our Gold version completely sold out and we did not have enough stock. Thank you, everyone! There were lots of orders for the black version too.
Those who came yesterday to buy, came today, wearing our tshirt! Now, isn't that sweet?
This is Jess, the one with the rescued kitten (sent to Semenyih fosterer).
Age is never a barrier to learning.
Hello...
Malay vegetarians!
More visitors. All our books went like crazy! People were still in awe...."free books?" Yes, they are free. Take one! But please pass it on after reading.
But it was nice that they flipped and browsed through the books before taking them. Some selected which books they wanted. Some only took one to read. All very nice people - they did not simply take for the sake of taking freebies.
I also did not dish out the books like freebies. I left them on the counter for people to browse. And browse they did, before taking the book(s) they liked.
Our storyboard was really effective. Many people were interested to know what AnimalCare does and what we provide. Two reporters came to interview me too.
More young people.
By 3.30pm, Amy had to go back, so there went our top sales manager. It was just Mary and me now.
Yesterday, we had 7 people. Now, we were down to just two! Mary and I braved ourselves...6 more hours to go. Let's do it, Mary! We'll grow extra hands, if we have to.
As though a guardian angel had heard Mary and my call, my friend, Sze Too, brought his daughter, Wei Shya, to help us out at the booth. I didn't even call him. He just turned up....miraculously, a few minutes after Amy left.
A divine gift from the heavens?
Here's Sze Too telling Wei Shya that she must read everything on the storyboard before helping us to man our booth.
Wei Shya turned out to be a beautiful "ambassador" for AnimalCare - brains and beauty and heart, all rolled into one. Indeed, she was a divine gift from the heavens. My only regret is we had sold out on our Ladies 34 tshirt, so she couldn't wear our tshirt!
Sze Too helped too. He's very seasoned in doing charity work, having done it for decades. So, we had two divine gifts from the heavens.
Sze Too, can I borrow Wei Shya for our next booth during Wesak?
Another little girl, very interested in our stories on the board.
This is dog-rescuer, Loo, whom we've helped but this was my first time meeting her.
A father patiently letting her daughter browse. The little girl took the books home.
(Photo courtesy of Petfinder.my)
The donations for both days were centralised and shared out amongst the seven NGOs at the end of the fair. What a great way to celebrate an anniversary - by doing something for others! That's altruism in its finest. Kudos to Andy and his team, so young and all heart!
For us, it had been a most fun-filled and meaningful event. We managed to spread the message of kindness to animals to many, many people. We explained what AnimalCare does and what we provide and how we complement the other NGOs.
I found that many people mistook us as another shelter, so my opening statement had to be "AnimalCare is a medical fund. We sponsor free spay-neuter and subsidise medical treatment for STRAY animals. We are NOT a shelter."
The "We are NOT a shelter" is the most important part as most people thought we were.
Yes, that'll set the record straight...before I go on explaining more about what we do.
We were able to reach out to lots of new rescuers seeking help with funds.
We were able to connect with young people who'll like to volunteer to become fosterers and helpers.
We also ended up as a "counselling centre" where many rescuers came asking for help. Some needed financial help, some were victimised, etc. LOTS!
Thanks to Subway's Veggie delight, which I bought for all our volunteers, that kept us going for the long hours on both days. There was simply no time to take off for even a quick lunch - we were so busy manning the booth and handling queries.
And thanks to the nearby "leong char" shop - without the bitter drink, my throat would have totally been worn out before half the day! In fact, it was, but the black bitter "leong char" did wonders for me!
Thank you, everyone, who visited our booth and purchased our tshirts. Thanks for taking my books and reading them. Please do pass them on as they are a gift from others to you. Thanks for dropping in too, to say hello.
Last but not least, many thanks to Andy Koh and his team, for making this connection possible.
Petfinder.my has indeed done a wonderful job organising this event for all of us!
P.S. Mary and I had a another adventure AFTER the event. What happened? Mary lost her car keys and we had come in one car! We were both stuck at the carpark at 10pm. Long story cut short, the car started without the keys....?? No, with a spoilt spare key which Mary had brought along (but this spoilt key doesn't work on normal days). It worked...when we needed it most. Then, upon reaching my house, the spoilt spare key which had worked to bring us home, couldn't work. So, my husband and I fetched Mary home. This is indeed a case of divine intervention again....how did the spoilt spare key work to bring us home? But it did! And thank goodness it did! Lesson learnt - always carry your spare key, spoilt or otherwise, and always connect with your guardian angels....!!
P.P.S The car key problem is settled now. All's well. No worries.
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