To commemorate her 31st birthday, the starlet was gifted with a one-of-a-kind birthday present by her fanclub
Text: Joanna Goh
To celebrate the upcoming Lunar New Year festivities and present Rui En with a one-of-a-kind birthday gift (she turns 31 on Jan 29) — that aligned with her volunteering efforts — members of RBKD (Rui En’s official fanclub) visited a group of 176 old folks living in Teck Ghee.
To spread the festive cheer, they also distributed home-baked cookies, pineapple tarts, festive goodies and other decorative murals.
In a short note to her fans on their online forum back in 2010, Rui En wrote: “BTW, for my birthday next year, I’m serious about not wanting a single gift or card. Instead, I would rather you make those things or put that effort into volunteering even if it’s for one day.”
Respecting their idol’s wishes, RBKD fanclub president Peh Xinyi shared with xinmsn in a phone interview that they the members “preferred to show their support” for her in such ways and started doing volunteer work last year.
“It’s more meaningful and a good way to make use of such times to contribute back to the community. It’s a positive influence on each other and a gift that she will like since she is very active in volunteering when she’s not filming,” Xinyi shared.
In order to roll out sufficient pineapple tarts and cookies for the 176 old folks, two groups of RBKD members spent three to four days tolling away in the kitchen.
They bought the pineapple paste and rolled the dough from scratch as Xinyi recalled, “Everyone was so sick and tired of pineapple tarts after spending two consecutive 12-hour days in the kitchen — we just wanted to buy the remaining bottles when we only managed to churn out 120 bottles of tarts.
“Eventually we persisted and finished off with 180 bottles because I told them if we were to buy the remaining bottles and opt for the leisurely route, sometime down the road we might regret not seeing through everything.”
After she learnt of their volunteer efforts, Rui En left an online message to members of RBKD on their forum: “Just back from another overnight with two more to go over the next 2 days. Am exhausted physically, emotionally and mentally. But you guys are just wonderful. Keep it up.”
In two small groups, RBKD members gathered in a member’s house to bake pineapple tarts and butter cookies for the old folks.
Unlike last year’s charity drive which saw them delivering rice and various dry goods to these old folks, RBKD wanted to tie-in their visit with food stuff related to Chinese New Year.
RBKD president Peh Xinyi shared, “I thought trying to bake it ourselves was more sincere than buying. It was most of the members’ first time baking pineapple tarts too; apart from the pineapple paste which we bought, we did everything else from scratch.”
Their efforts spanned over the course of three days paid off and the members managed to hit their target of making 180 bottles of tarts and cookies each.
The participants from RBKD consisted of schooling students, young adults and even mothers. On their volunteer efforts, Xinyi said, “When I organise this, I try to organise it in such a way that they will have a different volunteer experience. And hopefully next time when they are at school, they will also be more motivated to do community work. It’s a good way for us to grow personally as well.”
Apart from their homemade pineapple tarts and butter cookies, the fanclub also bought two bottles of Chinese New Year snacks, four cans of coke, two oranges and two small dragon decorations to spread the festive cheer amongst the old folks.
Members posing with the elderly after putting up the Chinese New Year decorations for them.
Unlike their visit last year which saw the members donning their fanclub’s official black t-shirt, they decided to wear brighter colours to appear less intimidating.
After a hard day’s work, the 30 odd volunteers gathered for a mini lou hei session to wrap up the day’s activities.
Source: Xinmsn
Categorised in Birthday 2012, EN, RBKD, xinmsn.
