Sweet Wellington Success for Fundraiser

Media release

31 January 2011

Sweet Wellington Success for Fundraiser

Prime Property & Prime Hotels in conjunction with Wellington Hospitals and Health Foundation has named the winners of its hugely successful Gingerbread House Challenge, which proved a windfall for Wellington Children’s Hospital.

The innovative idea – which already seems destined to become a Wellington tradition – was the brainchild of Wellington sisters Antoinette Muollo-Aharoni and Justine Muollo, who wanted a fundraising initiative that had a truly Wellington flavour.

Justine, who runs a successful specialist bakery in the capital, created the Gingerbread House Kits, while Antoinette used her contacts in the hospitality and business sectors to pull together a team that would ensure their vision was realised.

More than 1,000 Gingerbread House Kits were sold in the three weeks before Christmas, raising more than $10,250 for the annual Wellington Children’s Hospital Christmas Appeal. The first 300 kits sold out in a matter of hours, with more having to be ordered to meet demand.

The kits contained locally baked gingerbread pieces that could be assembled into a house and supporters were encouraged to decorate their structures as imaginatively as possible. Participants could also enter their sweet designs into the online Gingerbread House Challenge on Facebook, with the chance of winning prizes including an iPad and toy vouchers.

The Gingerbread House Challenge winners were announced by Mayor Celia Wade-Brown at the Wellington City Council offices. The winners were:

• Most “Wellington” Decorated Christmas House Winner & Overall Winner – Rowena and Alexander Ellims from Christchurch.
• Best Decorated Christmas House: Winner – Rebecca Stewart from Christchurch.
• Best decorated “Kiwiana” House: Winner – Sheree Willman from Wellington.

Wellington Children’s Hospital Executive Chair Bill Day was overwhelmed by the generosity that Wellingtonians have shown the Children’s Hospital: “We are very grateful to Prime and all the sponsors for showing such compassion and generosity around this exciting project. We could never have anticipated for such a joyous response, we look forward to next year,” said Mr Day.

The funds raised will go towards enabling the Wellington Children’s Hospital to continue to upgrade their facilities to a world-class standard.

About the Wellington Children’s Hospital

Wellington Children’s Hospital was opened almost 100 years ago and is the oldest children’s hospital in New Zealand.

The Hospital’s upgrades will include state-of-the-art paediatric medical and surgical equipment, a new playground, new toys and recreational items to sustain the large demand for their services.

It admitted over 32,000 children (aged 0 to 16) in 2009 from its catchment area that includes Taranaki, Hawkes Bay, Manawatu, Wairarapa and Nelson/Marlborough.

ENDS

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