Christian Hospital Launches New Celebrity-Backed Fundraising Campaign

Mildmay Hospital in East London, is launching its ‘Once in a Lifetime’ campaign throughout this month by allowing bidders to auction for special celebrity experiences with stars such as Lulu and Sir Cliff Richard.

|TOP|Mildmay is a Christian charity dedicated to improving the lives of men, women and children challenged by HIV and AIDS.

Lulu personally launched the charity’s ‘The BIG Clearout’ campaign on World AIDS day last December and to build on the success they have just added the ‘Once in a Lifetime’ auction.

The month long campaign is being run with the help of eBay for Charity and provides, as the name says, ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunities to be ‘at one’ with the Stars of the music world.

An additional aim of the campaign is to establish a UK record bid on the newly launched eBay for Charity by offering these ‘one on one’ experiences with top celebrities, and then in July or August throw out a challenge to other UK charities to try to beat the new record.

The campaign has a target of raising at least £1million in its first year for HIV/AIDS treatment and training in the UK and worldwide. The initial funds raised will help Mildmay Hospital in Hackney (Europe’s only dedicated HIV/AIDS hospital) as well as keep their purpose built children’s hospital in Kampala open to treat many young and innocent victims of HIV.

The auction will field some spectacular items of Celebrity Memorabilia too! Already lined up to go on sale during the month the campaign runs for is a special 2012 Olympics Commemorative watch designed by Geoff Banks to celebrate the successful UK Olympic bid. This unique item was presented to members of the bid team such as David Beckham and Dame Kelly Holmes and is likely to be one of the few to make it into the hands of the public.

|AD|Other celebrity lots to be listed comprise a ‘trademark’ suit donated by Julian Clary, plus items from the cast members of Eastenders and The Bill, Michael Caine, a signed England World Cup winner’s shirt and items from some of the patrons of Mildmay, including Dame Judi Dench and Sir Cliff Richard.

Members of the public can also get involved and join in ‘The Big Clearout’ by selling unwanted goods via eBay for Charity. They can choose to donate all of the money raised from the sale of items, or just a part of it, to Mildmay – so if you have a celebrity item you would like to put to good use just log on and get involved.

Mildmay Hospital have also organised a spectacular open-air charity concert by Jools Holland and his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra on June 25th to boost funds. The public can even bid to join the Concert Crew on the day with access all areas passes. There is also bidding to join the crew for The Royal Philharmonic on the Saturday of the same weekend.

Paul Sayer, Events Director for Mildmay Hospital, explained: “With many charities suffering from ‘donor fatigue’ we are pleased to approach fundraising in a new and fun way. How often do you get the chance to bid for life changing experiences such as these, and we have items at all levels of affordability. So join in, have some fun and help a very good cause at the same time.

“As eBay now has approaching 15 million users, we are confident that their eBay for Charity initiative will be a huge success. We are really grateful to celebrities like Geoff Banks, Sir Cliff and Lulu who are helping us raise money to help stamp out HIV/AIDS, particularly in children, all over the world”, he concluded.

‘Once in a Lifetime’ was launched on Thursday 26th April and will run until the end of May.