Member News
A charity supporting disadvantaged children escaping domestic abuse in the North East has received a huge boost thanks to a fundraising event held at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light last week.
Over £50,000 was raised for KidsOut - a volunteer-led charity which aims to bring fun and happiness into the lives of disadvantaged children.
It’s the first time the event has been held in the North East and included a special guest appearance from former Newcastle United player and manager Kevin Keegan. The event was organised by a committee from various organisations including law firm Ward Hadaway, housebuilder Gleeson Homes, development land agents Wisemove, development consultants Pegasus Planning and Durham County Cricket Club.
Guests were entertained at the Question of Sport themed-event and competed against each other to see who knew the most about various different topics on the night. Guests were treated to a champagne reception, three course dinner, raffle, silent auction and participated in games, one such game was delivered by Auf Weidersen Pet and Inspector Morse star Kevin Whatley.
Based in Bedfordshire, KidsOut provides its services across the UK to over 70,000 children a year, mainly through the provision of fun days out and toy boxes for children in refuge. To date, over 950,000 children have been taken on a fun day out by KidsOut.
Gordon Moulds, CEO at KidsOut said: "KidsOut provides significant support to children that have escaped domestic violence and I’m delighted that our first ever major North East fundraising event was a huge success. Thank you to everyone who attended and made a donation, this will provide KidsOut with much-needed funds to enable us to continue to support every child in a Woman’s refuge here in the North East."
Alistair McDonald, Strategic Business Development Director for the Built Environment at Ward Hadaway is one of the committee members and organisers of the event. He said: “What a fantastic evening raising vital funds for this great charity.
I’m overwhelmed how much we raised on the night and on behalf of the committee, we are very grateful to Kevin Keegan, the numerous other football legends and all the North East organisations that came along to support this event and we've already booked a venue to hold a bigger and better event next year.”
