November 29, 2023, 10:34 AM
Singaporean chef Violet Oon launched a charity initiative in support of Community Chest's 40th anniversary.
She launched the "Empowering Lives: Food for Good" initiative, a series of 25 programmes, that will go on till March 2024.
The initiative aims to rally the community and venue partners, restaurants, chefs and associations in her network to contribute their talents and resources for a good cause.
Full proceeds will go to Community Chest, which helps 93,000 service users including children with special needs, youth-at-risk, adults with disabilities, persons with mental health conditions, and seniors and families in need of support.
Speaking to Mothership, Oon shared that community service is important to her as it reminds her of how "fortunate and blessed" she is despite the setbacks she has had in life.
Wanted to do more after 70
"Actually for years, I felt that I was not doing enough and 2019 was the watershed year, on turning 70 and being accoladed — that I must finally do something," she said.
In 2019, Oon received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Contribution to Tourism. That same year, she committed to giving back through seven community projects.
One of the "Empowering Lives: Food for Good" programmes in January 2024 includes a class led by Oon herself, called "Secrets of the Peranakan Kitchen", where she will be teaching participants how to make Peranakan dishes worthy of "showing off".
Some of these dishes include bakwan kepiting, sambal udang petai, chap chye and kueh kochi.
"I wanted to be able to showcase [all these] in one class and this class will include a short history and culture lesson on how Peranakan culture and cooking represent the perfect marriage of the East with the East – Chinese and Malay – the dishes have been curated for taste, texture and cultural heritage."
Roped in personalities like Koh Chieng Mun and Jean Yip
Some of the programmes also feature prominent figures like actress Koh Chieng Mun and beauty entrepreneur Jean Yip.
According to Oon, it didn't take a lot of convincing to rope them into the initiative.
"I just asked and they said YES!" she replied enthusiastically.
On Oct. 29, Koh hosted a workshop where she taught participants to cook dishes like Nonya Birthday Mee, Cantonese Soup and Pineapple Tarts.
The workshop raised S$3,000.
The private home dining at Yip's home on Oct. 12 was well-received as well.
"Jean and Mervin [Wee's] dinner was spectacularly oversubscribed. They aimed for 30 and the final figure was 100!"
No greater joy than the joy of giving
Teaching children with cerebral palsy how to make cookies is an initiative that she keeps close to her heart.
"That morning spent up close and personal with young individuals — aged nine and above at the Cerebral Palsy Alliance Singapore — brought such a joy to my heart. And truly, whenever I come up close and personal with those we try to assist, there is no greater joy than the joy of giving."
When asked what she hopes to accomplish through this initiative, she said that she hopes to encourage everyone to be a philanthropist in their own way.
"It could be by volunteering your time and skillsets, donating money or simply doing good by enabling others to give back and contribute their talents and resources, to help those in need.
[...]
This joy and the feeling that all of us can take part in sharing our talent or resources in ways big or small is what I think is beyond money in this fundraising initiative."
Top image courtesy of Violet Oon.
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