The ‘Rising Above’ Charity Dinner
On 20 November 2006 (Universal Children’s Day), Margaret McCallum ran a fund-raising Charity Dinner for the new children’s charity campaign ‘Rising Above’ at the Bangsar Shopping Centre (BSC).

Why at BSC? Because it’s different! Because it made the dinner the first of its kind to be held in a shopping mall! In fact, our plan was to make the event as unusual, memorable and above all enjoyable as possible.

The concept for the evening was built around the 1950s joget club scene from the new movie, The Red Kebaya (for which Margaret McCallum designed the costumes).

The entertainment for the Charity Dinner was provided by the band and singer from The Red Kebaya, and included the songs sung in the film in the joget club scene. In addition, the evening featured some of Malaysia’s finest singers, such as M Nasir, Nora, Ferhad, Juliza, Izlyn and Aliff.

Among the guests were the stars of The Red Kebaya – including Vanidah Imran, Samantha Schubert, Ramli Hassan, Bob Mercer, Elaine Daly, Fauziah Nawi and Sabera Shaik. What’s more, dinner guests got the chance to dance with the movie stars! How? Well, back in the 1950s, in a joget club, tickets to dance with the joget dancers would be sold. At the Rising Above Dinner, tickets to dance with the movie starts were be auctioned to raise funds for the charity.

Other auctions held during the evening included a drive round the Sepang circuit in a Lotus with Alex Yoong, and four tickets to the Il Divo concert in KL in February 2007 plus invitations to the after-party.

The guest of honour was YB Datuk Seri Effendi Nawawi, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, and there was a recorded message from YB Dato’ Sri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, Minister of Women, Family and Community Development. As you would expect, the dress code for the evening was 50s/60s joget club.

Margaret McCallum also organised the official launch of Rising Above held on 23 September 2006; and the charity premiere of The Red Kebaya in aid of Rising Above, held on 22 November 2006 at Tanjong Golden Village, KLCC.