£500k donation from Rio Ferdinand helps Cash for Kids Mission Christmas appeal top £15m
Melanie May | 3 January 2017 | News
A £500k donation of toys and gifts from Rio Ferdinand has helped the 2016 Cash for Kids Mission Christmas appeal reach a total of £15,437,328 in gifts and money.
Cash for Kids is the Bauer Radio’s network of local charities, which raise money for children local to its network of radio stations. Former England football captain Ferdinand and his Rosso Restaurant announced the gift in December with a post on Facebook, pledging the amount to Bauer’s Manchester radio station Key 103’s Mission Christmas appeal.
Me & @RossoRestaurant are doing our bit this Xmas for #missionchristmas @CFKKEY103 with @KEY103 come on get involved Manchester!
— Rio Ferdinand (@rioferdy5) December 15, 2016
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The campaign featured across the Bauer City Network of radio stations including Key 103 as well as Wave 105, Downtown Radio and Cool FM. For the first time the appeal also ran on Gem, Magic and Absolute Radio, and with a text donate call to action on Planet Rock, asking people UK-wide to donate gifts in partnership with Wickes and other local sponsors of the charity around the country.
Key 103’s charity manager Russell Feingold said;
“We are overwhelmed by Rio’s amazing contribution. This is going to help so many young children.“
LISTEN AGAIN: The moment @rioferdy5 donated half a million pounds worth of toys to @CFKKEY103 #missionchristmas :https://t.co/3ABaILIIhk pic.twitter.com/YYJ6Slbuds
— Hits Radio News | Manchester (@hitsmcrnews) December 15, 2016
Mission Christmas also received support on social media from other celebrities including former Spice Girls Geri Horner and Melanie C, Ant & Dec, Cheryl Cole and ex-One Direction star Liam Payne. Cash for Kids was also the beneficiary of the Mother & Baby awards for the third year running, receiving more than £330,000 of product donations from nursery brands as a result.
Overall, £2,897,259 was donated to the Key 103 Mission Christmas campaign, enabling the charity to support over 60,000 local children, The overall total of £15.4m will enable the charity to support 362,694 children across the UK.
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About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.