WBA website runs article on Haiti Appeal Auction

Monday, February 15, 2010

Baggies pledge £25,000 to Haiti appeal

Posted on: Fri 12 Feb 2010

ALBION have joined forces with supporters to raise £25,000 for the DEC's Haiti Earthquake Appeal.

Generous fans pledged as much as £12,500 in an online auction after the Club put up for sale the 18 match shirts from the Newcastle away game in aid of the appeal.

The Baggies have now matched that figure by making a further £12,500 donation.

The money will support the Disasters Emergency Committee's aid effort in Port-au-Prince following last month's earthquake, which has killed tens of thousands and made over a million homeless.

Chairman Jeremy Peace said: "Our supporters really dug deep during our shirt auction and I would like to send my sincere thanks to everyone who took part and helped raise such a fantastic sum.

"We felt it was only right that we, as a club, matched the generosity of our supporters.

"This terrible tragedy continues to take its toll on Haiti and our donation will go towards the international community's efforts to help the people."

The Club threw their weight behind the aid effort by adding 'DEC Haiti Appeal' logos to the front of the players' shirts for the 2-2 draw at St James' Park on January 18.

The shirts were then auctioned off via official website www.wba.co.uk to raise much-needed funds for the humanitarian effort.

The Club would like to issue a special thank you to Solihull-based Corporate Solutions Logistics (CSL), which successfully bought the shirts of Jonas Olsson and Roman Bednar with a £5,000 donation.

After such a show of generosity, the Club arranged for CSL Directors John Mangan, Brian Croghan and Des and Mark Ponsonby to visit the training ground today, when they were officially presented with their signed shirts by Olsson and Bednar.

Finance Director John, an East Stand season-ticket holder, said: "We had all seen the disaster unfolding in Haiti and had already agreed to make a sizable donation to this cause.

"But we then saw Albion's generous gesture of placing the appeal logos on their shirts and, with two of us being big Baggies fans, we decided to back the Club's fundraising efforts."

Anyone wishing to make an online donation to the DEC Haiti Earthquake Appeal should visit www.dec.org.uk.

To make a postal donation, make cheques payable to 'DEC Haiti Earthquake Appeal' and mail to 'PO Box 999, London, EC3A 3AA'.

Donations can also be made at any high street bank, or at a Post Office, by quoting Freepay 1449.

Text 'GIVE' to 70077 to donate £5 to the DEC Haiti Earthquake Appeal (£5 goes to the DEC. You pay £5 plus the standard network SMS rate).

The DEC launches and co-ordinates national fundraising appeals for public donations on behalf of its member agencies.

The DEC consists of: Action Aid, British Red Cross, CAFOD, CARE International UK, Christian Aid, Concern Worldwide, Help the Aged, Islamic Relief, Merlin, Oxfam, Save the Children, Tearfund, World Vision.