Friday, 26 August 2016: Active International, Paykel Media and GroupM played pivotal roles in a recent fundraiser for children’s mental health blitzing its previous tally.

The Be Centre Gala is the charity’s primary annual fundraising platform and in 2016, with the help of the media and marketing industry, the event brought in a record $75,000 for the charity. 

Be Centre’s Gailene Keen said all funds from the dinner would go towards Be Centre moving to larger premises, and creating a Centre of Excellence for play therapy in Sydney.

“Our unique play therapy program currently has a waiting list of over 70 children aged 3-13 years who have experienced trauma and challenging life experiences,” said Gailene.  

“A new, larger facility will mean we can expand our core play therapy program to meet the ever increasing demand within the community and help us to place 70 more children who are currently on our wait list.It will also allow us to provide training to other professionals as well as support play therapy interns to ensure we have well trained staff well into the future,” she added.

 Gailene said the support of the media and marketing industry, through UnLtd, was fundamental in creating what was an incredibly memorable and highly successful event.

The fundraising component was heavily reliant on donated high-end auction items and ticket sales to raise vital cash.

Active International, GroupM and Paykel Media all rose to this challenge, sourcing incredible donations including; airline tickets, Australian Open tickets, accommodation vouchers, exclusive dinner experiences, jewellery and household appliances  – all of which were auctioned off to the highest bidders on the night. Among the auction item contributors were; ARN, Nine Network, Seven Network, NewsCorp.

“Active Cares and the team are proud and ongoing supporters of the Be Centre and hope to see their dream fulfilled in 2017.