Morning:
8°c
Our readers raise more than £200,000 with charity auction
Evening Standard16 Dec 2008
A charity supporting some of London's most deprived children is today celebrating a £200,000 windfall - thanks to the generosity of Evening Standard readers.
Hundreds more teenagers will now benefit from schemes run by Greenhouse, the charity supported by the Standard's Christmas auction.
The final amount raised is £206,617.86 - an astonishing sum in the present economic downturn.
Michael de Giorgio, Greenhouse's founder and CEO, spoke of his delight at the auction.
"We're thrilled about the fantastic amount of money raised through the auction, particularly given the current climate. Our heartfelt thanks go to everyone who chose to support us with their wonderful generosity."
Veronica Wadley, editor of the Standard, said: "This is a sensational amount of money to have raised in these difficult times. A big thank-you goes to the people who donated the auction lots and to the generosity of our readers who bid for them."
The money will be used to support existing Greenhouse projects, but will also allow the charity to roll out new schemes across London.
The charity helps more than 7,000 children each week through performing arts and sports programmes held in schools and community clubs. It has a proven record of helping the most deprived teenagers steer clear of crime and anti-social behaviour.
Mr de Giorgio added: "The funds raised will allow us to considerably expand our reach in London through new programmes.
"It costs £40,000 to fund an entire programme. For those who would like to see first hand what their support will help us achieve, please get in touch."
The sum raised easily eclipses the total of just over £180,000 in last year's auction. The highest bid this year was for a triangular table-tennis tournament with Michael Sherwood, joint CEO of Goldman Sachs, and the Standard's business editor Chris Blackhurst. It fetched a staggering £14,600 in the last moments of the eBay auction.
The final bid - for the table tennis match followed by dinner - narrowly beat the £14,200 raised for a shopping trip to New York with supermodel Kate Moss and retail tycoon Sir Philip Green, to coincide with the opening of Topshop's first store in America.
The Moss/Green shopping trip had led the bidding for nearly all the 10 days the auction ran, only to be eclipsed at the end by a dramatic, late surge for the table tennis match. The third-highest bid of £8,600 was for a trip to Milan to see Donatella Versace's fashion show with a designer gown thrown in.
Prince Charles's offer of a tour around the gardens of Highgrove, his country home in Gloucester, came in fourth with a bid of £5,200.
The top 10 lots alone raised £63,175. In all, 220 lots were donated. Although some lots attracted huge bids, others were more affordable. The average winning bid was £940.
● If you would like to donate to Greenhouse, send a cheque, with a note saying it is a donation, to: ANL Appeals, Room 219, Evening Standard, 2 Derry Street, London, W8 5EE.
