Waldorf Hilton stages fundraising Ball for Sense International
Howard Lake | 22 January 2009 | News
The luxurious ballroom of the Waldorf Hilton is the scene for a glamorous charity Ball on Saturday 31st January, as part of Hilton in the Community Foundation’s ongoing bid to defy gloomy financial conditions with fantastic fundraising events.
The black-tie event in the heart of London’s theatre land is in aid of Sense International and Hilton in the Community Foundation. All proceeds from the evening will be evenly split between the two charities, both of which are trying everyday to improve the lives of young people in the UK and the developing world.
The Ball includes a champagne reception, gourmet four course dinner, dancing, entertainment, raffle and a host of fantastic auction prizes. These include a trip to Barcelona to meet Lewis Hamilton at a McLaren Formula One test day and the chance to become a star of the big screen in the next film by the award winning director of Bend it like Beckham, Gurinder Chadha OBE.
Sense International works in the developing world to help people who are both deaf and blind to live full and active lives. The charity is celebrating its ten year anniversary having set up their first programme in India a decade ago, and now provides support to more than 30,000 deafblind people in ten countries. In 2007 Hilton in the Community Foundation used their disaster relief fund to award £50,000 to Sense International’s East Africa programme, the first award of this kind by the Foundation for ongoing international work.
Jeremy Charles, Chairman of Sense International said:
“This ball represents a wonderful culmination to the partnership between Sense International and Hilton in the Community Foundation and we are enormously proud to have been the first recipient of an international award from the Foundation. The grant could not have been made for a more worthy cause.
Children born deaf and blind in the developing world face unbelievable challenges but we know that with the right support a deafblind child can learn to communicate and flourish just like any other child. In our first decade, Sense International’s pioneering, innovative solutions have established infrastructure in some of the poorest countries in the world where previously there was nothing available.
Many thousands of children are still waiting for Sense International’s help – without help four out of five of these children will die before their fifth birthday. Donations from The Waldorf Ball in aid of Sense International will help us to reach them. In these difficult economic times, we must not forget that support for these marginalised children has never been more urgent.”
The charitable partnership has already made a big difference to many lives in Kenya as part of Sense International’s East Africa Programme. Working closely with Hilton Nairobi, 12 teachers have been trained, 41 deafblind children have been identified and professionally assessed, 60 deafblind children are now receiving services and 17 have had school transport secured for them to the Kilimani Primary School, the only day school with deafblind children in the country.
Simon Vincent, Hilton Area President Europe said:
“We are delighted to be partnering with Sense International for their 10th anniversary. During more challenging times it’s absolutely crucial that big businesses continue to support charities, whose work becomes even more important. The Foundation is focussed on its mission to support young people who are at a disadvantage; whether through their health or access to educational opportunities so many of us take for granted. Hilton Hotels has committed to and invested in the Foundation as we see it as a superb way of giving back to the communities in which we operate.”
There are still a limited number of tickets available for The Waldorf Hilton Ball. For more details please contact Hilton in the Community Foundation on 0207 605 7733.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.