Have your say!

We ask you to provide your full name and valid email address to ensure your comments'' legitimacy is acknowledged. Editor reserves the right to amend comments in accordance with Publisher’s Terms and Conditions. Click here for full publishers terms and conditions for reader comments.

Jilly Skinner, 29-07-11 22:54:

I wish I could be there but I would rather put in $139 towards a family and many more to help.........It is my home and always will be......and to those who attend "REMEMBER THEY ALL NEED HELP AND A BAG OF RICE COSTS NOTHING" to us....we do not think about it.....my love and support to you all for doing this to help the most beautiful children in the Eastern World.......Santasini which means thank-you and God Bless You

Jilly Skinner, 27-07-11 23:07:

I was born and bred in Africa and now in this era what is happening over there is awful.........children are suffering and have to hide at night or are taken away.... watch bob geldofs doco it will stunn you all.........we forget in the Western World how lucky we are........there are starving children put out on the steets, disesases, aids, no food not even rice and most importantly prostituion at the age of six or nine and onwards..........we as Westerns just concerate on ourselves...........WAKE UP AND SEE WHAT IS HAPPINING OVER THE WORLD.

Querai

Jilly

Add comment

To top

Tuesday 26 July 2011

Raise a hand for starving children

Luxury holidays throughout Asia and Australia will be up for grabs this Saturday night when Sheraton Mirage Port Douglas hosts the Unite for Children UNICEF charity ball in the Glade Pavilion.

The auction will see bidders vie for accommodation packages at luxurious Starwood Hotel properties in Kuala Lumpur, Bali, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Phuket and Chiang Mai, as well as Sydney and Melbourne.

But it will be starving children in East Africa bidders will be thinking of when they raise their hands at the auction.

According to UNICEF, famine has been officially declared in South Somalia with 11 million people affected – the equivalent of almost half the Australian population. The Horn of Africa food crisis has seen two million children become malnourished, with 500,000 suffering such severe malnutrition that urgent medical aid is required to avoid death.

Watch the UNICEF video (top left)

Coupled with that, drought, on-going armed conflict and inflation causing escalating food prices have triggered one of the sharpest refugee outflows in a decade.

Hosted by Channel Seven’s Rahni Sadler, the charity ball will also see a lucky door prize winner awarded two night’s accommodation at the Westin Melbourne, return air tickets for two people courtesy Virgin Airlines and tickets to the theatre, courtesy of Marriner Theatre.

There will also be prizes with local tour operators and restaurants, as well as the chance to take home a flat screen TV, a famous Sheraton “Sweet Sleeper” bed, a signed Richmond AFL jumper and two surprise autographed jerseys.

A four-course menu created by executive chef, Klaus Keller, will be served, with live entertainment from the band “Vibe”.

Tickets to the Unite for Children UNICEF charity ball are $139 per person which includes dinner, drinks and entertainment and must be booked in advance. Enquiries can be made to Chelsea Burke on 4099 0881 or email cscoordinator.00370@sheraton.com.