Olympic medallist, TV presenters, entrepreneurs and Auckland mayoral candidates teamed up with the Asian community at a gala dinner on Friday, July 29, to help raise more than $48,000 for child health research.
Funds raised at the Panpan Mission fundraising charity will go to Cure Kids, the largest non-government funder of child health research in New Zealand, who support vital research into a wide range of illnesses that affect children.
Panpan Mission campaign team at the event (Source: supplied)
Cure Kids chief executive Frances Benge said the funds from this event were to be directed particularly at supporting child cancer research and the work of Dr Mandy da Silva who, alongside world-class paediatric oncologist Dr Andrew Wood, is conducting research into genetic mistakes driving childhood leukaemia.
“The work that Dr Wood and Dr da Silva are undertaking is at the cutting edge of paediatric oncology. The support of the Panpan mission will significantly help advance this project,” said Ms Benge.
Dr Wood’s research requires additional funding and the more than $48,000 raised at the Panpan Mission event will be used for this purpose.
Initiated by three associations, Taiwanese Business Association of NZ, Taiwanese Junior Business Association of NZ, and the Asian New Zealand Chamber of Commerce, the event sponsored by Stamford Plaza in Auckland was attended by about 220 people including mayoral hopefuls John Palino and Victoria Crone.
Auckland Mayoral candidate Victoria Crone at the event (Photo: supplied)
Organisers Pin Cross-Cultural Design Solutions and their partner Brand Magic are thrilled with the outcome of the event. “As part of the Chinese Community we wanted to work with our Kiwi partner to bring a true cross-cultural charity collaboration to life. In this instance we selected Cure Kids as the recipient of our efforts” said Joyce Liu adding that “It was a great start to use technology, social media and languages that the Asian Community are familiar with as a way to contribute to a charity as well as communicating with a wider New Zealand audience in a different way.”
Also among the guests at the fundraiser named after Panpan—a toy bear with a red love heart on his face—were TV presenters, entrepreneurs, fashion editors and two-time Olympic medalist Bruce Kendall who hosted the auction for the big prize of the night—a bottle of cognac, which went for $8,880.
Other prizes included bespoke jewellery, Chinese art, photographs, a traditional Chinese Qipao dress and Richard Clayderman concert tickets.
Alongside treating patients at Starship Children’s Hospital, Dr Wood conducts research at the University of Auckland.
Panpan means hope in Chinese—the love heart on Panpan’s face represents hope.
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