Hi everyone! The documenters are back and this week has been an exciting one! Finally, after all the hard work being put it in by the different teams for the carnival, it was being executed! All of us not only feel as though we a load has been lifted off our backs but we are also glad that we have done our best and are grateful for those who came to support us. Let us now share more with you about the carnival!
Let us first introduce you to the booths at our carnival. Introducing ...
Participants would have to push a trolley filled with 14 kg of food within a certain distance using the shortest time possible. Why 14 kg? Because based on the latest statistic, Singapore had wasted 785,500 tonnes of waste, which is equivalent to 140 kg per person! Yikes. But of course because we couldn’t let most people push 140 kg, we downsized that to 14 kg, but it still does feel really heavy to push & sprint at the same time!
Well, I guess you would know what this booth is about just by the name of it… here, a marshmallow is hung in the air and participants have to hop and squat down without using hands to get it. This was to demonstrate the struggle 1 in 10 Singaporeans face in trying to get basic needs such as food, shelter, clothes – but with more emphasis on food, of course!
Interesting name, don’t you think? Well, this booth features Daisy, the mannequin wearing a dress made out of 14 milk cartons and holding two bowls, where participants would pour the rice through, but it’s a trick! The 2 bowls have holes made in them where rice will fall out of regardless of how it’s being poured into the bowl. The cartons of milk tell participants that only 14% of food was recycled in a year, and that the two bowls represents the fact that two bowls of rice are wasted per person each day! This was all to alert the participants on the seriousness of food wastage.
Participants had to put in a certain amount of food into the basket and amount it to 400 g. Why 400 g? Each person wastes 400 g of rice every day! That is is the equivalent of 2 full bowls of rice, every day. 400 g may not seem like a lot, but overtime this leads to a huge amount of food being wasted!
This is where participants were taught on how they could inculcate good habits to reduce food wastage. They had to strategically plan where to drop the disc so it lands in a green box and not a red box.
Participants can redeem attractive prizes once they have completed at least 3 out of the 5 booths!
People could get food items at $1 each, regardless of how much they cost in stores!
Thank you so much to all those who donated food!
In the midst of managing the carnival, we did have some challenges that we had to face.
On the first day, the turnout rate was low. Some of our FoodPathers did crowd pulling to get students to come to our event, but ended up facing quite a bit of rejection, and this dampened their spirits. We also happened to have one of our exam papers the next day, so everyone studied while manning booths at the same time. Everyone was stressed and this lead to a duller atmosphere of the carnival. It was also amusing how someone nearly thought that we were going to open up a tuition center and even asked one of the FoodPathers if that was the case!
However, we noticed that the $1 Pantry booth attracted a lot of students. Students could also win prizes from participating in the Instagram competition, such as FoodPanda vouchers and Starbucks gift cards. We decided to emphasize on winning these items while doing crowd pulling on the second day, hoping that more people will be willing to participate in our competitions and come to our carnival.
On the second day, the turnout did improve but some came specially for the $1 Pantry, and the number of posts for the Instagram competition had only increased by 10. We knew right then that something had to be done to ensure our carnival was a real success! We decided that those people who had the skills and stamina for crowd pulling could do it for the entirety of the next day – as this can be very taxing for most people. We had people volunteer so they knew exactly what they were getting themselves into, and thankfully, we did have enough people who stepped up and faced the challenge. Some of the crowd pullers emphasized on the Instagram competition and some encouraged the staff and students to make a donation so that Food Bank can acquire food bundles for the beneficiaries. Those manning the booths just had to be more hyped up. Every FoodPather still had that little bit of hope in them – especially since it was the last day.
The last day was the best and turned out better than expected! The crowd pullers did a good job, increasing the number of instagram competition posts from 10 on the second day, to 64 on the last day! We also ended up raising around $3220 in total from selling just food bundles! Those who were manning the booths were not only more hyped up, but had even pulled participants in and walked with them throughout the entire carnival. We may have had a rough start, but we sure ended on a good note. Well done, all Foodpathers!
Okay, so here is some good news about the carnival. The students who participated in our carnival ended up gaining more awareness and learned more facts about food wastage – for example, how each person wastes two bowls of rice a day and to understand the struggle of those who have difficulty finding food in Singapore. Some expressed that they would also want to share their takeaways from the event with their family and friends! Their favourite booths were “Fastest and Strongest” and $1 Pantry, with the latter being no surprise since there was quite a crowd there.
However, some of the students felt that the games at the booths could have been a little more challenging. Some also felt that the carnival could have been held at a better location and thought that we could be more hyped up.
Overall, the carnival went pretty well for us FoodPathers and we were glad to see how all of us were not only united as one team in this, but were also adaptable to the changes needed to be made along the way and were open to how we could improve in order to make this event a great one. We were also resilient as this week was a challenging one for us having to cope with exams and running the carnival at the same time.
Great job and thanks to the Logistics Team for allocating the manpower for the carnival, as well as leading the entirety of it. It was also the first time some of the logistics team members were overalls in-charge. They may have been nervous at the start but they did a good job!
Here’s a shout out to our members from the team and for their contribution to the project! Next, let’s give it up to the Programs Team for planning the booths and planning the activity segments of the carnival.
Thanks to the Sponsorship Team as without them we would not have our FoodPath shirts and we wouldn’t have much to give our participants! Finally, thanks also to the Publicity Team for spreading awareness and attracting people to come for our event! As for us Documenters, we could say we have done a good job of keeping everyone posted, haven’t we? :)
We FoodPathers are rather sad that the carnival has come to an end but hey, good job everyone for the hard work and keeping up the good spirit throughout the process.
Well, before I end, who are the winners for the Instagram competition? Let’s find out!
Congratulations to….
@ _bleedinghearts
@ nabilgoonies
@ davidbowenyip
@ _jchk
@ evansch52_
@ christopher_wants_nata_de_coco
@ nur_akif
@ thivya14
@ gennxx
@ ann0ying_e
Thank you for participating in our carnival!
Next week, the documenters will be writing our last post, so do be on a lookout for it!
Till next time!
Signing off,
The Documenters (Jodi)
