PRET Awards Night and Charity Dinner Donations Breaks Record The third PRET Australia Awards Night took off at night from the Royal International Convention Centre on November 25, 2023, surpassing the previous fundraising targets. The theme of this year's event was "Around the World", so when the guests went up the escalator to the second floor, they found that the entry had turned into the airport checkin counter of EVA Air, as well as the duty-free counter area of TF International and an airline VIP Lounge offering delicacies and snacks from all over the world! As the ground staff made announcements to urge boarding, the guests walked into the boarding gate and sat down across first class, business class, premium economy class and economy class tables The organizer, Paul Shih, said, “Our flight is probably the only one in the world with more business class seats than economy class! There were 71 tables, including 14 first-class tables and 32 business-class tables. Business-class tables were sold out to sponsors as soon as they were launched. Many companies had to purchase premium-class or economyclass tables instead to participate. Many companies have expressed interest that they wanted to secure for a higher-level sponsorship early next time! The event kicked off with an explosive performance by Uncle Club Band, sponsored by Mr. Michael Chen, who operates a number of hotels, as in-flight entertainment! The band sang classic songs from various countries that were very relevant to the theme, winning warm applause from all the passengers on the plane. Taking over the stage were the four young hosts, Ocean, Angel, Alex and Sirlene, who were hosting for the third year. Many guests who had
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participated in the past years lamented that the young hosts back then had grown into tall young persons! Boys were wearing captain's uniforms and girls wearing air stewardess uniforms, standing in a row explaining and demonstrating the safety instructions for the flight. The interesting demonstration allowed guests to see the improvements of these teenagers MC only aged 14 to 16 years old! Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner and Lady Mayoress Nina Schrinner took the stage on behalf of Lord Mayor's Charitable Foundation; they thanked the guests present for their support and dedication to charity. Ms. Fu from YFG Shopping Centres took the stage to donate $20,000 on behalf of the company. Mrs Lisa Smith, the marketing director, presented a thankyou trophy to the mayor and his wife on behalf of Mrs Yuan Fu, who has been doing charity through the Loving Care Group for more than 20 years and on behalf of Mrs Fu, Mrs Smith also congratulated Paul Shih for winning the honour of being one of Taiwan's top ten outstanding overseas young person this year. Trudy Crooks, director of Resort Brokers, and Ms Shi Huang Liying, the 92-yearold grandma of Paul Shih who flew in from Taiwan, also came on stage to donate
big cheques to the Mayor's Charitable Foundation. Paul Shih took the stage and introduced this year’s new Resort News FiveStar Property Manager Award. The winners are all outstanding property managers. This award is announced and presented by the editor-in-chief of Resort News, a professional property management magazine. A new charity added to this year's dinner is FareShare. They specialise in saving produces from supermarkets and making delicious meal packs for charitable organisations to deliver to those who need them most. They provide millions of meals every year. This year, with the surge in homelessness, they need everyone’s support. All proceeds from selling raffle tickets at the dinner were donated to FareShare. Ms Barbara Chuang of BB Group and Jinding Group each donated AU$ 10,000, giving FareShare a total donation of more than $35,251. Chairman Carl Wu presents APMA's Five-Star Onsite Manager Awards to outstanding onsite managers in recognition of their exceptional performance in serving landlords and tenants and in social responsibility. The Outstanding Employee Award, co-organized by the Australian Taiwan
Chamber of Commerce in Queensland, was presented to employees on stage by the bosses to thank them for their contributions to the company, allowing the company to give back to society! With the support of employees and clients, Jason Fu and Penny Huyan of GoldenWater Finance donated AUD 10,000 to the Mater Foundation for the third year. Mr. Michael Song from the newly participating diamond-level sponsor Cllix Hotels & Apartments has supported the bidding in previous years. This year, he donated $10,000 and bought the 5 nights holiday accommodation in Noosa during live auction. MIA Director Anita Huang and Mahoneys Lawyer also presented big cheques and participated in the bidding. The items auctioned by Mater Hospital were a medical simulation training centre experience for eight people and a French lunch. After competition from many parties, Lennon Lin and new immigrant Mr. Hao Chao raised their bids by more than $10,000. In the end, they decided to donate $12,000 each. Mater Foundation raised over $76,715 to purchase a transport cot for sick babies. Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital Foundation received a
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second-year donation of $10,000 from REDY Group, with a big cheque donated by Ms Silvia Liu. FutureX Group, 28 Property, Ray White Forest Lake and Grace Education also came on stage to present big cheques. Among them, Grace Yu and Sharon Chen, the honorary ambassadors of the Mayor's Charitable Foundation, chose to donate to RBWH because Ms. Yu's mother's cancer surgery was successfully cared for by RBWH. In the end, $53,751 was raised for the hospital! The annual dragon fruit charity sale initiated by Royac Farm has become a significant event for Chinese community in Queensland. This year, under the sponsorship of William Yan, President of the AustraliaChina Investment and Trade Promotion Association, the volunteers wore uniforms and aprons for next year’s charity sale and went on stage to donate two big cheques of $6,000 each to two hospitals. Prepared to continue the charity sale with Paul Shih next year these volunteers also came again to help with the Awards Night. Former mayor Graham Quirk and Paul Shih jointly acted as auctioneers for this year’s live auction. Paul Shih’s Hainanese chicken rice and ROBAM steam oven were bought at a high price by
Jacky Lee of Glamourous Wok in the third year. Paul Shih’s family has to rack their brains again to prepare new dishes to entertain. Paul Shih also sponsored a one-day Porsche driving class experience. Bobo Qi from Property Bridge paid $5,500 for four people to experience the training of driving eight Porsches. Bobo’s husband, Mr. Darren Brent, is a professional racing driver. No wonder she defeated many competitors to buy this item. The Top Agent Award is the highlight every year. There were more than 80 nominations this year, and only 14 real estate agents became finalists. The award was presented by Emily Huang, Managing Director of Queensland Property Weekly. Four of the final five winners are first-time winners: Jessie Shi of Resort Brokers, John Heng of Ray White Robertson, Jacky Niu of BrisVegas Property Group and Jun Yang of Jun International Realtors. Leo Liu of NGU Realty Estate has been ranked among the top five agents for the third consecutive year. Congratulations to these outstanding real estate agents for receiving awards from Jade Harley the founder of PRET Australia! EVA Air’s grand prize of round-trip air tickets to any Asian destination is won by Jack Guan! Jacky Niu won the round-trip ticket to Taipei on China Airlines sponsored by Paul Shih. Finally, Paul Shih announced that the first year of Awards Night raised more than $70,000 with the support of 350 guests at W Hotel, the second year raised more than $140,000 with the contribution of more than 700 guests at Brisbane City Hall, and this year’s event raised a total of $210,507 sets a new record! Thank you so much to all our guests for their overwhelming support.
THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, December, 2023 — 45
