Growing up as the youngest of nine children, Apelles Poh and his family struggled to make ends meet.
At eight years old, Apelles helped his father, who sold dried noodles for a living, deliver the noodles to the market. From age thirteen he worked a series of odd jobs for pocket money for school, including giving tuition, working in retail, and as a production officer.
“As they say, a rough sea makes a good sailor. Those early years honed my character and strengthened my values,” says Apelles, now a Senior Financial Services Director with Professional Investment Advisory Services Pte Ltd and one of CCF’s long-standing individual donors.
“My struggles made me want to help other people in challenging situations,” he says. When he published his first inspirational book Live Well, Love Much, Laugh Often in 2008 (which went on to be a national best seller), Apelles decided to donate all the proceeds from the book towards CCF.
The decision was an easy one for Apelles, who is also the principal trainer at Eagle’s Wings Training and Consultancy, a platform birthed from his passion to impart lives with the spoken word.
“Money is like fertilizer. If you keep hoarding it, it stinks. But if you give it away and use it to nurture lives, it can help people to flower,” says Apelles, who also donates his earnings from local and international public speaking engagements to CCF.
He recalls an incident when he helped to fulfil the last wish of a little girl suffering from leukaemia who wanted a party with all her friends and a magician. Apelles sponsored the party, which he called a bittersweet yet special celebration.
He says: “If we can alleviate the children’s pain and put a smile on their faces, it is enough for me. When you put a smile on a young person’s face, your heart smiles too.”