How did TreeDots celebrate Chinese New Year?

It all started with a quick discussion at SMUAA B3 Cafe, an idea to give back to the unsung heroes who have been keeping our alma mater as conducive and beautiful as what we had always known it for. Everything was fuzzy, nothing was solidified, but all of us only had one goal in mind – to express our heartfelt thanks to these quiet heroes in SMU this lunar new year.

TreeDots, SMU Grow, and SMUAA B3 decided to come together, each pooling our expertise, to whip up something amazing for our school’s 100 cleaners, technicians, security guards, and contract staff on the 7th day of lunar new year. Why the 7th? According to Chinese tradition, this day is everybody’s birthday! So what better day to show our gratitude!

After much planning and consideration, we decided to do a few things for these lovely people:

  1. Lo-Hei! A tradition where the Chinese set up a raw fish salad while uttering auspicious phrases and toss it as high as possible to usher in a year of prosperity;
  2. Buffet – how can a party not have a feast;
  3. Goodies bag for them to take home something after;

A campaign was thus set up to start raising funds and we were so touched by the generosity of the SMU circle – within a short span of two days, we had hit our initial target of S$1,500! At the end of the fundraising campaign, we raised a whopping S$1,900!

After all the hard work (and donations), the results were truly satisfying when we see the buzz of excitement and happy faces at the end of the day –

Albeit a simple event, it really felt like an extended family reunion for everybody. The funds collected went a long way since we managed to maximise food supplies and reduce food wastage. All of this couldn’t have been done without the help of all the donors, volunteers, organisers, SMU Grow, and B3!

Receipts –

lo-hei appreciation receipts