2014 Toronto CRRS' Fundraising Gala

The gala was held at Premier Ballroom, Richmond Hill, Ont.

This was it!

Having met and planned every month for the past year, members of the CRRS, Toronto Chapter, converged at the Premiere Ball Room before the guests arrived for the annual fundraising gala.

It was a proud moment for all of the Commitee Members!

There were nine hundred plus guests at the 2014 fundraising gala

We were so happy to see each other and saw the beautiful banquet hall all set up for the almost one thousand guests here! 

Angela donated her talents and time to the gala

Our sponsors donated generously and their banners were up; the program books arrived on time and were distributed at each seat; the sound system with nine huge screens were hung above at strategic locations throughout the huge banquet hall to ensure the nine hundred plus guests would see and hear properly regardless where they were seated; the singers and Doulos, our band for the evening had arrived and they sounded great!

It is no small feat planning and organizing for our annual fundraising event. Everyone of our committee members believes passionately about the cause - helping poor children, especially girls in rural China to an have an education. 

While other huge charitable organizations have budgets to hire professional fundraisers and marketing firms to do their fundraising for them, the Toronto CRRS Chapter would rather see its administrative cost reduced to the minimum and relies on dedicated full time volunteers to do the job .

Therefore, the Toronto CRRS pours all its energy and focuses on mainly one fundraising event a year - the annual fundraising gala. 

Esther shared the Project Shine story

 Committee members worked year round on this special event: getting speakers, singers, musicians, finding the right video, pictures, restaurant for the event, approaching companies and individuals for sponsors and advertising, speaking at different functions to promote the charitable work.

 In addition to the planning of the gala, the Toronto Chapter also encourages, works with the Vancouver CRRS Team and takes part in self funded trips to visit our sponsored students in China and recruits Canadian youths to be involved in Project Shine - a summer English teaching project by Canadian volunteers.

Dr. Leung's moving speech stirred many hearts

With nine hundred plus guests attending this gala, the banquet began right on time at 6:30p.m. The evening started with the singing of Canada, then a few dishes were served before the keynote speaker, Dr. Leung,  delivered his speech. His presentation was powerful and touching. Throughout his thirty minute speech, the audience was so memorized that you could hear a pin drop and no one dared to leave his/her seat for fear of missing anything he was saying.

The fundraising event was a smashing success! Everything went very smoothly. Dr. Leung's speech was moving stirring people's hearts; Angela's and the Doulos' singing were heavenly. There were no glitches or technical difficulties at all during the entire evening.| Everything went as planned! We could not ask for more.

We broke the record in the number of people attending, the number of tables sold and the amount of fund raised for the 2014gala! The next day in one of the member's house, we gathered and cheered for the good news. 

Praise God! It is great serving  Him and His people. It was a joy and privilege to serve and play a small part in the 2014 CRRS fundraising event.

R.T.

Toronto