Thousands of underprivileged children can now enjoy nutritious meals thanks to a unique fundraising auction held by A1GP, the World Cup of motor sport, during its South African races.
Under the hammer were 10 wire and beadwork replicas of A1GP cars, each one taking 10 people a whole day to make. Up to 18,000 beads were used in each model and racegoers in the swanky Pangaea hospitality suite raised more than a million Rand (almost £70,000) bidding for them during the break between the sprint and feature races.
The money will be used by the charity Food 4 Africa, which works with other organisations to supply children with at least one vitamin and mineral enriched meal every day.
The charity feeds more than 17,000 children every day across South Africa, including pre-school children, the destitute, AIDS orphans, street kids and neglected children as well as senior citizens.
Its founder and Managing Director, Gordon Minott, said: “We are very grateful to A1GP for appointing us as the charity that would benefit from the funds raised during the Durban charity auction.
“The funds will be used to purchase food which will be distributed through our rural school child development program over the next year. The funds converted to food translate to 2.2 million meals. This allows us to feed an additional 6100 children per day.”
Pete da Silva, A1GP’s chief executive, added: “This auction was a first for A1GP and we are happy to have raised a large sum of money for an organisation as deserving as Food 4 Africa. The generosity of the patrons in Pangaea was overwhelming and we thank each person who participated.”