Charity dinner raises $14K

Four charities will be the recipients of $14,000 raised at the Soiree Four Charity fundraising dinner at Trinity Wharf.

The dinner was a combined effort of four women, Jessica Gordon, Denise Arnold, Lavina Good and Annah Stretton, to raise money for the respective charities they are involved in –Baby Watoto Uganda, the Cambodia Charitable Trust, Good Neighbour Food Rescue and RAW (Reclaim Another Woman).


Event organiser Jessica Gordon and Raw operations manager Rebecca Skilton.

Proceeds from the evening will be divided equally between the charities, with each receiving more than $3500.

Tauranga lawyer Denise Arnold, who established the Cambodia Charitable Trust, says the event was such a success it is set to become an annual event.

'The support from the community was amazing. We would like to thank both the sponsors and those who attended for their generosity.

'We are looking forward to doing it all again next year. Keep August 21, 2015, free for an even more spectacular event.”

On August 23 guests enjoyed a three-course dinner, while being entertained by New Zealand X-Factor finalist Jessie Matthews, with $15,000 worth of raffle prizes and auction items up for grabs, including a luxury weekend, high tea for 10 and a flight in a war plane.

All four women spoke about their charities at the event.

A director with Lyon O'Neale Arnold, Denise established the Cambodia Charitable Trust to help eliminate poverty in Cambodia through education.

Lavina Good, spoke about Good Neighbour, which was last week named the Supreme Winner at the 2014 Trustpower Tauranga Community Awards.

Good Neighbour offers practical help to those in need and redistributes food from supermarkets and cafes that is good enough to eat, but not good enough to sell.

RAW was established by fashion designer Annah Stretton to mentor women who have come from a history of domestic violence.

Tauranga is one of three centres where the initiative is available.

Jessica Gordon, who lives at Mount Maunganui, is involved with Baby Watoto Uganda, a charity that looks after babies abandoned or orphaned due to poverty, lack of education and the HIV/Aids crisis.

She'll be travelling to Uganda at the end of the year to volunteer.

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3 comments

Nice Going

Posted on 30-08-2014 11:23 | By Bop man

But couldn't there be more support for New Zealand Charities,


Commendable

Posted on 30-08-2014 16:36 | By Johnney

It was brilliant to see Annah Streeton on TV the other night with the RAW programme. Can't see Dame Trellise doing the same. Great work ladies. Let focus on our back yard first though.


Well done

Posted on 02-09-2014 20:16 | By Mt Maunganui Gal

Awesome work! Just to comment on the remarks above, 2 of the 4 charities are local and community focused. An international flavour is nice. We need to place equal focus on both. In the future this event will help differ charities each year which are all tauranga based. I think it is a job very well done ladies!


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