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Programme Highlight - Miss Singapore International 2009 Beauty Pageant (MSI2009)

The Singapore Women’s Association (SWA) started in 1954 with the aim of ensuring a better quality of life for women and children. Our main activities include the Singapore Visioncare Programme for the elderly, Project Nepal for the under-privileged children in Nepal, fund raising for the underprivileged and community services in Singapore. This year in May, we started Project Taking Charge for young women who are abused or in crisis with awareness and skills building programme.

The Singapore Women’s Association (SWA) has been organizing beauty pageants since 1975. This is one of our annual events to raise funds in aid of deserving charities or welfare organisations. In the past, the funds raised have benefited many underprivileged children, old folks and the community.

The reason for our ability to continue the event is that we have, all these years, uphold our objective of the event for charity and to inculcate in the young ladies the need to be compassionate and what more when they're given the gift of beauty.
By serving the cause of charity the Singapore Women's Association has given beauty pageants a new dimension and respectability.

The theme, “Beauty with a Purpose” was born. This year we are celebrating our 34th year in organizing beauty pageants.

All nett proceeds from the Charity Dinner held by the Singapore Women's Association have been donated to charity.

Since 1975, some of the Charitable Organisations who have benefited from funds raised through this beauty pageant:

1. Children’s Charities
2. Handicaps Welfare Association
3. National Kidney Foundation
4. National Safety Council
5. Singapore Association for the Retarded Children
6. Singapore Women’s Association’s community projects
7. Moral Home for Disabled
8. Lions Home for the Elders

Our Founder President, Mrs Seow Peck Leng had in those days worked hard to change the image of beauty pageants and SWA has continued to adhere to the following objectives:

1. To raise funds for a worthy cause.
2. To encourage girls endowed with beauty to make use of this gift and any talents they may have for a worthy cause.
3. To train the younger generation to be civic conscious and to instill in them a sense of civic responsibility and a desire to render service to the less fortunate.
4. To give as many young girls as possible chances to enrich their personality and knowledge; improve their appearance and poise; and especially to further improve their human relations.
5. To give the girls a chance to meet and live with people of other countries to promote goodwill, friendship, respect and tourism for Singapore.

This year, all nett proceeds from this fund-raising project will go to the:

1. Moral Home for Disabled‘s new home to house poor, intellectually disabled children who require more assistance, care and love. SWA hopes to help Moral Home to raise funds for their ongoing projects for their new home.  It is a new building to provide a home for more disabled children who have been on the waiting list.
2. Lions Community Service Foundation (Singapore) to raise funds to support any relief work and community service projects and activities, support deserving and the poorest students with Bursaries and Study Awards and provide financial assistance to destitute individuals and families in need, and administering of funds raised for disaster relief. 
3. Singapore Women's Association ‘s Community Projects, including Singapore VisionCare Programme - which offers free eye screening for senior citizens in the Homes and Community Centres

Donations/sponsorships will be used to:

• expand and develop more community projects for older persons and children
• funding of our on-going projects

About the Beauty Pageant
The pageant is unique not only because it is one of the longest held event organized by a non-profit organization but also one of the very few held for charity from day one.

We want to make “Beauty”, this very beautiful and valuable gift of nature serve a beautiful and worthy cause.  The theme – “Beauty with a Purpose” is the same all these years but the Purpose would inevitably be varied. Although we may serve different charities at different times, depending on which charity we consider need immediate help for that particular year. Our long-term purpose has been and will always remain the same, i.e. to raise funds for charity and community service.

By establishing the worthwhile charity image as opposed to just the vanity aspect of running a Beauty Pageant, it is hoped that young ladies from all family backgrounds will feel that they can participate safely in an activity which will not only bring credit to themselves and their country but also help substantially to raise money for worthy causes.

One of our aims then was to put Singapore on the map. The winner of Miss Singapore International represented Singapore in Japan, and in recent years in China too, cultivating and promoting goodwill, understanding and friendship among beauties from different countries.

The other objective was to demonstrate beauty with a heart. Visits/ activities with the handicapped and under-privileged have been organized to encourage contestants to render service and to take interests in community work. Not only are the girls made aware of the needs of the less fortunate and handicapped but they also learn how best these people can be helped. Such personal visits will, it is hoped, instil in our young compassion and a desire to render community service.

Through the years, this event:
1.   Has raised thousands of dollars for charity. They have:
•    Helped run the homes for the handicapped, retarded, sick, destitute and under-privileged children;
•    Given food and lodging to destitute old folks;
•    Helped the National Safety Council make our roads a safe place to travel on.

2.    It has put Singapore on the map. The contestants are given publicity in all the participating countries through their local media.

3.    Provides funding for the Singapore Visioncare Programme, which is one of our Association‘s major community projects. Annually, more than 1000 people age 40 and above, received eye screening.

4.    The event has given our Singapore girl:
•    An opportunity to serve as an ambassador of Singapore by promoting her to the delegates from other countries;
•    An opportunity to travel for a life time experience of glamour and charity at an international level;
•    A chance to meet and live with girls from all over the world and learn about their traditional customs and values.