Caritas fundraising bazaar to take place this weekend

Paul Pun

The 45th Caritas Macau Charity Bazaar is set to take place at the Nam Van Nautical Center this Saturday and Sunday, with a Halloween-themed charity promotional event on Friday evening.
“This year’s bazaar aims to raise MOP7 million for the charity’s services expenditure,” Macau Caritas’ secretary general Paul Pun told the media at a press conference yesterday.
“Last year, the bazaar attracted about 50,000 to 60,000 participants and raised MOP6 million for funds,” he revealed. “This year we hope to attract more people but it will depend on the weather.”
According to Mr Pun, in order to launch new services while carrying out existing ones, Caritas needs a large amount of funding every year and has to balance society’s needs with insufficient resources.
“We want to maintain the 24-hour service for people who seek help during the night; and we’ve launched new services such as the community babysitting service. [As the] next step, we need to find one more place to carry out daycare for the elderly,” he explained.
“Each year, 10 percent of the funds need to be raised by ourselves. It sounds like a small potion, but it’s actually a huge amount and is difficult for us to raise,” he stressed, adding that Caritas needs to raise up to MOP20 million as the 10 percent of its total expenditure for next year.
“The bazaar has been held for 45 years and has become a major annual fundraising event in Macau,” added Caritas’ administrative director Philip Yuen.  “We’ve strived to be innovative in delivering the important messages to the public, such as addressing environmental issues.”
Not only has Caritas’ annual bazaar tradition not changed, the price of the fête’s raffle coupons also remain at 10MOP, the same as  twenty years ago. According to the organizer, a total of 130,000 coupons have been sold in prior to the event.
The upcoming bazaar consists of a total of 89 booths, providing assorted games, specialty cuisine, a play area for children and a charity sale. A featured booth this year is an exhibition of photographs and short films to appeal to children.
Moreover, a series of workshops will allow general residents to interact with Caritas’ service users while learning Chinese painting, seated Tai Chi or other activities.
Besides booths to be installed by social organizations, Caritas’ service groups, governmental departments, corporate sponsors and educational institutes, the bazaar will feature more than forty performing groups taking to the stage. In addition, as a pre-promotional event to the bazaar, special street performances featuring local bands will accompany visitors on Halloween night. Staff reporter

‘Food Bank’ extension under consideration

Caritas Macau will get a reply from the government on whether it will receive more funds to continue its food distribution next year. The reply will come between the end of the month and early November, revealed Caritas’ secretary general Mr Paul Pun. “But whether the government will approve our application or not, we will continue the ‘fund bank’ until the end of this year,” he assured.