Chinese New Year

LBF receives the lion's share

They say you should never look a gift horse in the mouth, but it was the jaws of a hungry lion that provided a generous $5,000 donation to the Leukaemia & Blood Foundation.

The money was collected at Chinese New Year festivities held by the Auckland Harbourside Rotary at the Coral Reef Restaurant in Beach Road on Friday 23 February, 2007. The evening involved a traditional lion dance and the 230 diners threw envelopes of money into its jaws.

Donations were also collected during a charity auction on the night which saw a painting by up and coming artist Sean Chen sell for $600, a figure which rose to $1,200 when one generous party-goer offered to match the bid.

Rotary members handed over the $5,000 cheque to a delighted Pru Etcheverry, Executive Director of the Leukaemia & Blood Foundation, during a visit to the Foundation’s Auckland offices in Claude Road.

Auckland Harbourside Rotary member Judy Cheung was the prime organiser and sent a big thank you to sponsors ANZ and Air New Zealand, who donated return flights to Shanghai to the auction.