It ain't all about the money

Despite the fact that we are an upstart company, our aims are not mainly about profit. Or rather more precisely, monetary profit, since what I am about to chronicle is about something that will profit the soul.

Following on from one of the meetings mentioned here in one of the previous posts, we had another meeting with the executive director of St. Nicholas' Home for the Visually Impaired, Mr. Ooi. Save for Tommy, this meeting featured an all new cast comprising of me and Ju Ping. The purpose was to discuss the extent of help Sautern can offer to the home.

The meeting was to take place at 3 pm. Since Tommy was involved in an auction earlier on, the plan was for Jupes and me to wait in school until 2.30pm. Unlike the previous meeting, the weather this time was decidedly gloomy, with intermittent rain since morning. Nevertheless, it sufficiently cleared up enough to not disrupt our transit to the meeting place, which was at the home.

Upon reaching our destination, it was apparent though that our arrival was not exactly that eagerly awaited since the secretary had to ring up Mr. Ooi to confirm whether we really had an appointment. That was soon cleared up and we were seated inside Mr. Ooi's office in no time. The other participant to the meeting was one of the managers there.

As the home was a non-profit organisation, it had to rely on generous donations to keep it up and running. Our meeting centred mostly on this. They had a few fund-raising efforts in the pipeline, and some of them were in conjunction with the home's 80th anniversary celebrations. Besides that, we also discussed the matter of the home's website which is currently very 'raw' to quote Mr. Ooi. Please feel free though to check it out.

On the other side of the spectrum, we also spoke about what we have already done, namely the new logo and slogan. Mr. Ooi requested that we send the whole presentation of the logo to him within the next few weeks, to facilitate the integration of the logo into the upcoming campaigns.

Although it did not feel like it, the meeting ended at about 4.45pm. Before we left, we were taken on a tour to the computer facilities of the home. It was certainly eye-opening (no pun intended) to see the visually impaired use the internet like any regular Joe. The most impressive of all was the screen reader software, or rather how the visually impaired made use of it. What sounded like rapid muttering to us, was ably utilised by them to go about their duties.

After leaving, St. Nicholas', we adjourned to a nearby mamak place to satiate our rumbling stomachs, especially Tommy, who has not eaten since this morning. We had a fairly light meal, with a 'Roti Bom' for me, a 'Roti Pisang' for Jupes and normal 'Roti Canai' for Tommy. The side dishes included squid, squid roe and some potatoes. With some time to kill, we spent the next 45 minutes or so reminiscing about old times. All in all, a regular day in the lives of teenage entrepreneurs.