View AWARE 20th Anniversary Dinner Photo Album

It was a night of glamour, glitz and gaiety as 220 women and their partners flocked to the Island Ballroom of the Legends at Fort Canning to celebrate the 20 years since a group of courageous and pioneering women got together to found an organisation for friendship, advocacy and helping others.

Founders, ex-presidents, past Nominated Members of Parliament and long-serving members were rewarded for their loyalty with prizes given out by current President Braema Mathi. In case we had all forgotten, Dana Lam put together a presentation of AWARE through the years, recounting the struggles, the breakthroughs and the losses.

I came for the dinner thinking that AWARE was becoming less relevant but realised the importance and significance of AWARE through the pictures shown to me, enthused one attendee. Many more, who had been been standing on the fringes of AWARE for several years, asked for membership forms and wanted to get involved.

The dinner dance was organized by AWARE's Hon. Treasurer, Michelle Lim and a team of volunteers; Lotte, Kathy, Marvalyn, Anna and Schultz. The self-funding event took four months to organize. The d'cor was handmade, the programs written with printing generously donated, the 52 prizes had to be collected, collated and distributed, the raffle tickets sold, menus planned, band and DJs contacted and play lists devised.

Past President and among the founding members of AWARE, Ms Zaibun Siraj took MC-ing to a new level with her own charismatic flavour and impromptu dance and singing routines. The band played 80s tunes to fit the theme, and the DJ, obviously unaccustomed to the strong directions of a room full of women, rose to the occasion with hits across several decades.

All in all a night to remember and a great blueprint for our 25th anniversary!