Meet The Entrepreneurs Charity Concert 2012 and visit to Dignity Kitchen

(Photo Credit: MTE on Facebook)

This week is proving to be a soul-stirring one. What with the Meet The Entrepreneurs (MTE) Charity Concert on Monday and my visit today to Dignity Kitchen.

What an interesting coincidence too that while reading Robin Sharma’s book ‘The Secret Letters Of The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari’ this morning, I chanced upon this passage:

“With every person we engage, in everything we do, we must be kinder than expected, more generous than anticipated, more positive than we thought possible. Every moment in front of another human being is an opportunity to express our highest values and to influence someone with our humanity. We can make the world better, one person at a time.”

The passage encapsulates neatly the message that both the charity concert and my visit to Dignity Kitchen gave me.

Thanks to Andrew Chow from Ideamart, I got my first media invite to a charity concert.

The charity concert was organised by local entrepreneurs and spearheaded by Roger Koh, CEO of Chen Fu Ji International F&B Group. It warmed my heart as it showed me that there are many entrepreneurs who (in Roger’s words) care about “love, giving and sharing”.  Funds were raised for Club Rainbow which helps children with chronic and life-threatening illnesses and their families, and Dignity Kitchen, a hawker training school for the disabled and the disadvantaged.

One of the highlights for the evening was definitely Dr Tan Cheng Bock’s performance.

I particularly liked too, the Talkshow by Patrick Liew (CEO of HSR). While the Talkshow was hilarious and most enjoyable, the inspiring message that Patrick left us with was “If you have to talk, speak words of life. Inspire, motivate people and make them greater than before they met you”.

Upon the invitation of another of the MTE committee members, Ashley Ella Choo from One HR Concierge, I visited Dignity Kitchen today.

The 14,000sft foodcourt had stalls mainly manned by students of Dignity Kitchen and can be recognised by the logo:

I also got to meet Alson, who works at the noodle stall. He suffers from cerebral palsy and has difficulty cooking the noodles. Can you guess how Dignity Kitchen assists him?

 Second from left: Alson

They put together a special noodle machine with pre-set timers and which will lift the cooked noodles up automatically:

I think it’s an amazing invention! The bonus is that there’s quality control and the noodles always taste good!

Other innovations include the talking calculator and the cash registers affixed with Braille stickers to aid the visually impaired. I applaud all at Dignity Kitchen for going all out to assist the disadvantaged and helping them live fulfilling lives with dignity.

For one, Dignity Kitchen provides its students with $30 training allowance for each day of the 6-8 weeks training course that they attend. They do this to help solve the financial woes of the students first. Also, classes are conducted between 10am and 4pm so students can avoid the peak hours when taking public transport!

Their hard work has clearly paid off with the 100% passing rate for the NEA’s Food Hygiene Basic Test!

Here’s what our President, Dr Tony Tan, had to say about Dignity Kitchen:

Instead of donations, Dignity Kitchen prefers sponsorships for the elderly from old folks’ homes to lunch at Dignity Kitchen. I think that’s really awesome as every dollar goes toward meals for the elderly and also rewards the disabled and disadvantaged for their hard work in preparing and serving the food!

Dear friends, come on down to Dignity Kitchen at 1 Kaki Bukit View, #01-01 Techview Building (opposite Bedok North Secondary School). I loved the experience – the food not only filled my belly, the students’ warmth and friendliness (and innocence too!) lifted my spirits!

You and I can make a difference in the life of at least one person this year and we can “make the world better, one person at a time”.