The Crescents of Brisbane and Chinese and Kuraby Lions Fund Raising Dinner for the Kuraby Special School Bike Track Appeal turned out not only to be an entertaining evening but ended up exceeding even the wildest of expectations of the organizers for the amount of money they hoped to raise on the night.

There was a staggering number of donations from a number of Muslim organizations, businesses and individuals and the target of $20 000 was well within reach before the night was out.

Crescents of Brisbane Team member, young Zaheer Suleman, co-hosted the night with the delightful Lions Miss Personality Quest Candidate Fiona Qiu-Yue Chen who delivered a stirring rendition of the National Anthem to kick off the nights packed programme.

Congenitally blind Gerrard Gosens was the keynote speaker on the night, drawing gasps of amazement at the number and extent of his achievements, not least of which included climbs to base three of Mt. Everest, a myriad of ultra-marathon runs, surfing and airplane flying.

As their gesture of appreciation, the children of the school made up specially prepared table gifts for each of the 180 guests who included local political candidates and sitting members (for whom the night had all the theatre and drama of the last supper); Chinese Consul General Ren Gongping and Vice Consul Zhang Qing and members of the Chinese communities; members of the African communities including Mr. Bobby Whitfield, the President of the African Council of Queensland; and a wonderful turnout from our local Muslim community.

Ceri McCoy and Fred Graham complimented the international flavour of the night with Irish and other national music on their fiddles, jigs and reels.

Mr. Faisal Hatia, who was the main sponsor of evening, was awarded a special certificate of appreciation by the Chinese and Kuraby Lions and Crescents of Brisbane for his support of this project.

The word 'election' became a 'swear' word on the night and use of it in any conversation invoked a fine that went to the cause. With the number of politicians present it was not hard to bait guests into an 'expletive' or two by the end of the night.

By all accounts it was a fabulously inspirational and entertaining evening out and the success of the fund raising itself proved to be just the cherry on the top for the school and the organizing team.

As one of the guests commented on the night: "There was more community awareness, understanding and appreciation here tonight than a thousand United Nations meetings!"

Crescents of Brisbane would like to thank David Forde of the Kuraby Lions and Chinese Lions' President Lewis MP Lee and Vice President Jack Sun for all their efforts in helping organize this event and for the very affable spirit that prevailed throughout its planning, co-ordination and execution. We look forward to working with you and your organizations again!

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A multicultural fundraising dinner will be taking place on Friday 23 November 2007 at Michaels restaurant, Eight Mile Plains in support of the Kuraby Special School, Bike Track Appeal Stage 2.
 
This event is a follow up to a very successful multicultural dinner held earlier this year to support the completion of stage 1.
 
The theme of this dinner will be: “Supporting the community through diversity”. 

Stage 2 which will comprise various obstacles will cost approximately $20,000 and it is hoped to raise a significant (if not all) of the required amount through this event. 
 
The Kuraby Special School is a classic model of diversity, with almost 80 students from 18 different cultural and at least 4 main religious backgrounds, including Christian, Buddhist, Islam and Hindi. 
 
This event is being organised through: Crescents of Brisbane and the Lions Clubs of Brisbane Chinese & Kuraby.

The guest speaker is Gerrard Gosens who is recognised as one of the most outstanding young people in Australia today.

Congenitally blind, Gerrard became Queensland’s youngest Guide Dog recipient at age sixteen. Using a lap top computer with speech output to assist his studies, Gerrard achieved an exceptional TE score and gained entrance to the Bachelor of Business course at Queensland University of Technology. Gerrard’s commendable academic achievements are matched by his skill and success at sport.

Read the rest of Gerrard's bio......
 

For tickets please call 0402026786 or email theteam@crescentsofbrisbane.org

We last visited the Kuraby Special School as the children settled into class of the new school year.

Now, as the school year starts to wind down, it is a perfect time to reflect on the achievements of these precious children.

They may not have made the school debating team or been chosen for the football squad, but the steady yet sure progress they have made is just as exciting as any other child’s school achievement.

Megan (15) has delighted her teachers by recognizing sight words and has started to read her first books.

Belinda (7) was unable to communicate her needs to her parents and now can by using the PECS (picture exchange communication system).

Ahmed (11) over the year, has worked through his social interactions difficulties and really matured.

Eleven year-old Crystal's behaviour has improved; now she does jobs in the office. She learnt how to use the fax machine and is trying hard to use the phone.

Asim is working hard at integrating with the class and his bike riding has come along so well.

With the money raised already by Crescents of Brisbane and the Kuraby Lions, a bike track has been laid for the children to practice their riding skills.

The students enjoy riding on the new track, and there have been many improvements with the younger children.

Many, who were not capable of riding a two wheel bike, are now showing much confidence.

The children benefit greatly from the new track; they learn skills in controlling the bike, stopping, working co-operatively, gross motor skills, and following the road rules, as well as the social aspect of sharing the track with others.

The school still needs some more components of the bike track to challenge the children even more.

To do this Crescents of Brisbane and the Chinese and Kuraby Lions are holding a Fundraising Dinner at Michael’s Oriental Restaurant on Friday, November 23rd at 7.00pm.

The menu includes the famous Julie Hatia chicken recipe – so that’s certainly something to look forward to!

The evening also promises to be an entertaining one and being on the eve of the election it has been declared a no politics evening more so now that several politicians will be supporting the event with their prescence.

With multicultural entertainment and prizes to win, the evening is shaping up to be loads of fun.

Be prepared, however, to be fined if you don’t follow the rules.

Kuraby Special School is one of those places where every parent needs to visit now and again, not only to meet the beautiful people who work or attend the school, but to allow us to appreciate our own children even more.

The teachers and parents of these children deserve our greatest admiration and respect, for the daily effort they put into turning these children into functioning members of society.

Our donations to allow the school to continue its great work will go a long way in assisting a child to learn independence and skills that will bring them much joy.

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There are a few tickets still available for the fund raising Dinner.

Call 0402 026 786 to secure them ASAP.