Over 95,000 Victorians came to Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC) over the weekend for the state’s 86th Good Friday Appeal (GFA), raising another record-breaking total of $17,605,662 to support The Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne.
Hosting the iconic Channel 7 Telethon, Kids Day Out activities and evening Super Show, MCEC played a vital role in delivering the large-scale event while helping to raise life-changing funds for sick kids.
MCEC Chief Executive Peter King said the Good Friday Appeal (GFA) was a wonderful example of the role the venue plays in Melbourne that goes beyond the business events landscape.
“GFA is a really important community event and partnership for us, and one that the entire team looks forward to working on each year. Our employees are completely engaged with the cause, looking for new ways to support and deliver the event each year.
“We are a true partner in the Good Friday Appeal family. It’s always a pleasure to work with the major supporters of the Appeal including Channel 7, Herald and Weekly Times and 3AW to house this wonderful family event that brings smiles to the faces of all the children involved,” Mr King added.
Director of the Appeal, Anne Randall praised the generosity of Victorians who rallied together every year to raise much-needed funds for children in need.
“It’s wonderful to see so many Victorian’s come to Kids Day Out in support of the Good Friday Appeal. Across the State tens of thousands of individuals and communities have donated time, resources and funds to achieve another outstanding result for The Royal Children’s Hospital and children in need,” Ms Randall said.
With MCEC’s expansion project underway the future looks bright for the Appeal, with the new space providing a great opportunity to welcome more people into the venue for Kids Day Out and raise even more funds.
“Over the last four years, we’ve watched the Appeal grow and flourish at MCEC. We’re incredibly excited about the opportunity the venue’s expansion provides us to take this event to even further heights,” Ms Randall added.
This year MCEC’s chefs created an interactive Ice Cream Wonderland for Kids Day Out, serving 4,000 house-made ice creams, raising over $6,000 for the Appeal. This was accompanied by MCEC’s annual Giant Easter Egg Raffle, which raised almost $1,000 in addition.
MCEC’s team has spent the last six months planning for the event, with over 250 employees working during the Appeal, many of whom donated their time.
In the lead up to the event day, more than 300 hours of food preparation went into to feeding the tens of thousands of people across 11 food outlets
The venue’s superior fibre-optic infrastructure was responsible for providing the signals for the Channel 7 broadcast and telethon, supporting the live broadcast stream, 350 telephones and another 350 computers simultaneously.
Since 1931 the Good Friday Appeal has contributed more than $327 million to The Royal Children’s Hospital.
