The grand ballroom of the newly opened Capella hotel on Sentosa Island was teeming with almost 400 people last Saturday night for Singapore’s annual Passion Ball.

It was held in aid of charity organisation Food From The Heart, which delivers unsold bread to charity organisations among other programmes. The event sold all its tickets despite the doom and gloom of the recession.

Singaporeans, it seems, are still willing to do their part for charity. In addition to the tickets, which were priced at between $500 and $1,000 each, guests also enthusiastically participated in a rousing auction that proved to be the highlight of the night.

The auction featured 12 sponsored items, such as spa packages in South Africa and dinner aboard a private jet and raised more than $50,000.

Event organiser Olga Iserlis said: “Even though it is not easy to raise funds this year, we have been tremendously fortunate to have so many passionate and giving individuals who helped us.”

Guests were treated to a performance by a jazz sextet from the United World College.

Cirque du Soleil’s Evgeniy Epimonenko put on a gripping performance where he perched on ladders and juggled rings. He waived the full fee to accept a token sum instead.

While the organisation is still in the midst of collating the total amount raised this year, past Passion Balls have seen an average of $225,000 raised annually. The money will go towards five community programmes run by Food From The Heart.

Ms Kathryn Yap, managing partner of an executive search firm who attended the event, said: “I do not see why in times of recession less should be given to those in need. In fact, I feel in both good times and bad times, helping others should always be a priority.”

Nonetheless, despite the positive turnout on Saturday, some charities are still hard hit by the economic downturn.

Action For Aids, an organisation dedicated to public education about Aids and financial support for people living with HIV and Aids, had to cancel a planned fund-raising dinner last year due to poor ticket sales.

Held every two to three years, the charity event raises an average of $85,000 each time. Mr Lionel Lee, executive director of AFA, said tickets cost between $500 and $800 each.

A new committee has been formed to relaunch the event in November this year and organisers are keeping their fingers crossed.

He said: “We are unsure of the reaction because of the market situation but we do hope that the dinner will be successful this year.”

Charity organisation, Kidz Horizon Appeal, which provides financial aid to children with chronic or terminal illness, has also been hit by the economic slowdown.

Even though it has been organising yearly charity balls since 2005, the organisation saw a significant dip in donations at this year’s gala held on March 14 at the Ritz Carlton. The total amount raised fell from an average of $600,000 in previous years to $450,000 this year.

While the organisation still has sufficient buffer reserves to carry on, it will need to step up on fund raising to ensure the continued support of its beneficiaries, said Dr Caroline Low-Heah, who chairs the committee of Kidz Horizon Appeal.

Lawyer Wong Ai Ai, who attended this year’s Kidz Horizon Ball, said: “Some paranoia has set in because of the gloomy picture being presented. But I believe that once people have digested all the bad news, most will take stock of their own relatively fortunate situation and they will start contributing again.”

Several charity balls have been scheduled for later this year, including those by the Viva Foundation, which aids children with cancer, and the Singapore Repertory Theatre.

The organisers say they are still optimistic.

The Viva Foundation’s ball is slated for October at the Shangri-La. Tickets costing $500 to $2,000 each go on sale in July.

The Singapore Repertory Theatre will be having its annual gala at the St Regis Singapore, also in October.

About half the tickets, priced at $400 each, have already been reserved, said the drama group’s artistic director Gaurav Kripalani.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.