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Charity golf tournament to raise funds
Posted on Friday, August 01st, 2008 by pelf and filed in Charity, Conservation & Environment, USA

One of the things that got repeated very frequently at the Wetlands Institute is that the not-for-profit organization loses money in 9 months in a year. In fact, we were told that the only months that the Wetlands Institute makes money are the summer months.

I’m not sure how much of that I believe, but let’s just say that the institute makes significantly less money during the “non-summer months” compared to the “summer months”.

So one of the most important fund-raising events organized by the Wetlands Institute is, undoubtedly, one that would raise lots of money in a short time. And what better way to raise funds than to invite the rich golfers to an afternoon/evening of golf and good food?

Businesses are invited to sponsor a hole at the Sand Barrens Golf Club in Stone Harbor, and each of the 18 holes can be sponsored by many companies. These companies donate a certain amount of money to the Wetlands Institute and a sign is put up on that particular hole (see photo below).

Golfer

At the end of the game — we all know that golf is a very long game — players would tally their scores on the board, and the best team wins a prize! :D

Score board

Besides good food, there was also a silent auction. Silent auction is a kind of auction where items are placed on a table and a sheet of paper is placed next to each item. Bidders write their names on the sheet of paper, as well as the price that they are willing to pay for that particular item. But of course, the price that you write must be higher than what the previous bidder is willing to pay (otherwise it wouldn’t be called an auction, it would be called a game!).

Silent auction

One other fun thing that was supposed to take place but didn’t was the “putting into the boat” game (click on photo below for notes). The putter (the person hitting the golf ball) will stand on the green patch on the foreground, and s/he will try to hit the golf ball into the boat in the middle of the lake.

Fun golf

I am sure that would have been fun!

All in all, the event was a successful one. Many golfers turned up. Lots of good food was served. I am not sure how much money was raised in the event itself, but I am sure it is successful enough that the institute organizes it year after year :P

More pictures taken during the golf tournament here.

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Plastic artworks
Posted on Tuesday, February 12th, 2008 by pelf and filed in Charity, Conservation & Environment

This post was published @ Domestik Goddess.

A lot of things are being said about China’s recent announcement to ban the manufacture, sale, and use of plastic bags under 0.025 mm thick and prohibits supermarkets and shops nationwide from handing out the sacks for free from June 1st AND apparently, Australia’s government also said recently that it hoped to phase out the use of plastic bags from the nation’s shopping centres by the end of the year.

With all the hoo-haas around the excessive use of plastic bags, it is heartening to learn that there are people who turn these plastic bags into beautiful art pieces!

Virginia Fleck began making artwork when she was a child and she eventually studied at Portland School of Art and The School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. She has been the recipient of numerous grants and residencies including a fellowship for a residency and exhibition in Havana, Cuba.

Plastic art

My wall-sized mandalas, created from sections of used plastic shopping bags, analyze the activity of consumerism as a spiritual encounter. This visual experience of repetitive designs, indicative of meditative objects and advertising graphics, stimulates the viewer to yearn for more… Our hunger is insatiable; our fervor can be witnessed… Nirvana / paradise is easily obtained and owned…

- Virginia Fleck

Her work has been exhibited at Art Forum Berlin, Pulse Miami, Pulse New York, and Arte Fiera in Bologna, Italy. And she recently completed The Spin Cycle for Whole Foods World Headquarters and Mandala Constellation for the Dell Children’s Hospital. Her work appears in many prestigious collections including the Marino Golinelli collection in Bologna, Italy. In 2007, she was nominated for the Texas Prize, and won the juror’s award for the 2007 Texas Biennial.

Public plastic art

Aren’t they beautiful? :heart:

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Do you drive a fuel-efficient car?
Posted on Tuesday, February 05th, 2008 by pelf and filed in Charity, Conservation & Environment

A month ago, I wrote about the Super-Cars Shout Out Competition that a friend of mine, David @ PlanetThoughts, hosts. But unfortunately, after a month, I am still the sole participant of the very exciting competition!

Smart car
Image credit: Tommy Wong.

Now, let me tell you what it is all about (again). The Super-Cars Shout Out Competition is basically an exercise where a participant places a pre-made flyer onto any of the fuel efficient cars she sees on the road — it could be at the parking area of a shopping mall, or it could be in the neighbourhood, or in the vicinity of a university, etc. Then the participant takes a picture of the car with the flyer, and uploads the picture into PlanetThoughts. The fun thing about this exercise is that you stand a chance to win USD 500 just by participating!

OK, so what’s a fuel efficient car, and which cars aren’t fuel efficient? David already did his homework — he listed 25 cars that officially achieve at least 40 miles per gallon (or 16.74 kilometers per liter) on the highway, and these are the cars that you should look out for — Honda Jazz, Hyundai Getz, Toyota Yaris, Chevrolet Matiz, and even two Malaysian-made cars, Perodua Kelisa and Perodua Kenari! :D

The objective of this exercise-cum-competition is to tell car owners that they have made a great choice by purchasing a fuel-efficient car :D I am taking part in this competition, and I always imagine the smile on the car owner’s face when she sees the flyer on her car (check out the very nicely-worded flyers).

At the end of the competition (which ends on June 2nd), a winner will be drawn and this person takes home USD 500! The winner will be selected using a weighted value calculated from the number of valid uploaded car images from each participant, which simply means, the more pictures you upload, the greater is your chance of winning USD 500 :D But on top of that, David is also giving out USD 50 per month to ONE car owner who contacts him!

One of those situation where everybody wins :D

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