It was Sunday, 6 September 1992. The weather was pleasant and sunny. The gleams of the morning sun shone brightly on the lawn of the Tumbalong Park in Darling Harbour. It was the day where the “Dragon Charity Walk 92” organised by our Society was held. The event was a new attempt in the Chinese community and created strong interests and positive response. Many people participated in the walk, joined as volunteers or assisted with finding sponsors. Henry, who proposed the idea, was enthusiastically committed to the complicated organisational and preparational work. All those involved held the same belief: they must raise funds for Elderly Australian Chinese Homes Co-operative Ltd. (EACH).
Participants began arriving at the Tumbalong Park at around 8:30am. They each carried a ‘sponsor card’, with the names of their sponsors and the amount sponsored per kilometre. Each card had an identification number and would be used for lucky draw after the walk.
There were around 600 participants. Together with over 100 volunteers, forming a huge crowd at the park.
There were many familiar faces in the crowd: parents and children of Campsie Child Care Centre, children’s drama classes, Chinese Youth League and Sydney Chinese School. The most eye-catching scene was the bright yellow flag of the “Carers’ Self-Help Group of Chinese Family Day Care”. Though the service was not a formal family day care scheme yet, our Society had been assisting Chinese women to get into the family day care (FDC) industry since 1982. Our Society was like a family to the carers. The FDC carers brought their families and children to support the fundraising event, totalling over 200 participants among them.
Distinguished guests on the day included the wife of the Premier, Ms Colleen Fahey, and the Deputy Mayor of Sydney City Council, Mr Henry Tsang. The VIPs conducted the ribbon cutting ceremony to kick off the walk. The scene was spectacular and the atmosphere was jubilant!
Proper techniques bring physical benefits. Before the formal start of the walk at 9:30am, a professional exercise coach, Ms Julie Diamond (also a professional makeup artist) shared tips on walking techniques and led the crowd to do warm-up exercises.
Apart from the walk, the event also included a photography competition and a lucky draw.
After the finish of the walk at 11:30am, a one-hour variety performance was staged. It was a spectacular show performed by distinguished artists from different communities, including solo singing by Chinese Australian opera singer, Ms Suqin Yu, solo singing by Ms Xiaocen Shan, Syrian folk dance, peacock dance, flying apsaras dance, ballet, etc. The Art Troupe of Liaoning Overseas Exchange Association happened to be visiting Australia at the time, and they put on an acrobatic show. The performance attracted over 1000 people to stop and watch!
The charity walk was an overwhelming success! It raised $52,000, for EACH, an amount never reached before.
There was also tremendous support from businesses with over 40 sponsors. They came from different sectors such as restaurants, fashion and food industries, finance, legal firms, travel agencies and electrical appliances shops, etc. Some of them placed advertisements in the souvenir publication of the Walk. Many members of the newly established Way In Network sponsored generously for numerous participants.
🤔 “Dragon Charity Walk 92” was such a huge success. Would the event be organised again? Stay tuned for the next article!
