Doesn’t everyone scrub up nicely when they’re going to dinner?

Quiz-Mistress Alice and The Divine Miss Daphne certainly kept us all distracted, but we did manage to get some pictures! There’s more to come, so check back tomorrow.

Two exciting events in one exciting update. It’s efficient AND eco-friendly!

Post-Vesak Celebration Dinner – Tuesday 10th June

Kick back and relax after all that hard work with good food, good company and perhaps even a little musical mayhem and some games. This dinner is free for members, helpers and immediate families.

Boon Lay Raja Restaurant Pte Ltd

Blk 135 Jurong East St 13

#02-337

Singapore 650135

Tel : 6563 6643

(Opp Jurong East MRT Station)

It’s from 6.30pm onwards. The organisers are madly trying to ring everyone now, but if your phone doesn’t ring before Monday (or you haven’t paid your phone bill, naughty, naughty), email Alice here because seating is RSVP only!

Painting The Town Yellow, 2 Day Malacca Trip – Saturday 28th & Sunday 29th June

This will be great fun. Don’t miss out because we’ll be gossiping about it for months! An overnight roadtrip to Malacca via aircon coach and staying at the Equatorial Hotel (with a Peranakan lunch and a breakfast thrown in).

Pasar Malam got, City Tour also got. Not to mention eating, a nice swimming pool (to exercise off the eating?) and all the lovely sightseeing that Malacca offers.

Open to members and helpers at the discounted price of $135 (adults) and $115 (kids). Booking is essential, so pick up a flyer and talk to Alice on Sunday or chope your place by email here. It really will be a fantastic trip. Hope everyone can make it =)

Yet another scribble on your calendar, if you’re old fashioned like me and use a paper one. It was announced over the weekend that the date for Deepavali has moved from Tuesday 28th October to Monday 27th October.

The Shrine’s open on that day and I’ve placed my order for lovely weather, so see you there.

There’s been some changes in the dates for these two months. The Shine will be open:

• June: 8th & 22nd
• July 6th & 20th

In the past couple of years we’ve all been following some fairly high profile charity scandals in the media. Not just big corporate charities like NKF, Youth Challenge, and currently Ren Ci, but also some cases of smaller charities that have had problems being accountable for their running.

It’s not necessarily the case, although it might be, that dishonesty is involved. Charities are often manned (personned?) and run by volunteers who are good-heartedly giving something back to the community, but aren’t necessarily trained or qualified for the role they are taking.

Moh Hong Buddhist Shrine is a charity, registered with the Singapore Government. Charities are set up to advance a cause beneficial to the community, which includes education, religion, arts, welfare, sport, health and a range of other things. There is also another category of charity called Institutions of Public Character (IPCs) which are mainly institutions and trust funds.

To help charities and IPCs in good management and operations, the government has recently drawn up a Code of Governance for Charities and IPCs. It includes guidelines for charities in good practices, such as how many trustees should be on a committee, what forms a quorum at a meeting, bookkeeping, conflicts of interest, asset management, contracts for services and the like.

Moh Hong Buddhist Shrine will certainly be doing everything possible to comply with the new Code of Governance.

The Chairman and Secretary of the management committee attended a briefing with a representative of the Charities Unit of the government on Friday, 22 February. They report that at first glance Moh Hong, which is run entirely by volunteers, complies with most of the standards of good governance and very few changes are required. Over the next couple of months they will be going through the code in detail to see whether any changes need to be made or whether Moh Hong should take advantage of any of the training, consultation services or government funds that have been set up to help charities with best practices.

If you lose track of the Shrine opening days, or need to check the dates for Vesak, Deepavali or 7th Month, the Calendar page with all the details is now updated.

On Saturday 2nd February, representatives of the Moh Hong Buddhist Shrine Committee attended an event organized by the Bishan Citizen Consultative Committee in appreciation of the donations that citizens and organistions (profit and non-profit) have given.

This fund serves the low income families through direct assistance as well as bursaries to school going children. Approximately 40K out of the 70K raised last year was given out as bursaries last year.

Moh Hong Buddhist Shrine has been contributing to this fund since 1991. We are happy to be a part of this community and will continue to lend our support to the needy.

Just a reminder to everyone that orders are now being taken for scrummy-licious CNY snacks. We affectionately call the one in the photograph “twisties”, and five minutes after the photo was taken it was an empty bowl.

It’s a delicious range of munchies, and sales will go towards supporting Moh Hong activities next year, so download the order form in PDF or Excel format now and please pass it around to all your friends.

Then just drop it in to the shrine on a Sunday, email it here or fax to 6386 7301.

Delivery will be in January (date tba), but you can relax comfortably, knowing that you’ve done your snack shopping and delicious snacks will be on the way.

Just a reminder that the Bishan Shrine is open this Thursday (8th) for Deepavali, and also on Sunday (11th).

A great opportunity to get in your orders for delicious New Year goodies if you haven’t already.

Wow, my mother taught me to nag really well =p

It might seem a little early to be thinking about Chinese New Year already (we’re still dieting from the mooncakes!) but believe me, it’ll be here sooner than you expect.

And in the spirit of making sure MHBS members get the very best, we’ve sacrificed our waist-lines to come up with a range of essential CNY snacks that tingle our tastebuds. Some were average and didn’t make the cut, so the ones we’ve put on the list are good. Really good.

Melt in the mouth pineapple tarts and almond cookies, more-ish nuts, broadbeans and savoury snacks, and my all-time favourite, pumpkin seed slices (yum!)

These snacks are hand-made with love, and proceeds go towards supporting MHBS activities, so of course it’s a much better cause than supporting your local multinational supermarket chain store.

Download the order form in PDF or Excel format and please pass it around to all your friends.

Then just drop it in to the shrine on a Sunday, email it here or fax to 6386 7301.

Delivery will be in January (date tba), but you can relax comfortably, knowing that you’ve done your snack shopping and delicious snacks will be on the way.