Easter was a hopping time for the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC), raising funds for a good cause.
Almost 80,000 Victorians flooded the MCEC for the state’s 84th Good Friday Appeal (GFA), producing a record-breaking total of $17,109,063 for The Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne.
“We are overwhelmed by the generosity of Victorians,” the Appeal’s executive director Anne Randall said.
“This is a wonderful result for the kids, and we owe a huge thank you to the communities across the state who have rallied together to achieve this incredible result.”
“MCEC was an exceptional host of the 2015 Good Friday Appeal, including the Channel 7 Telethon, the Kids Day Out activities and the Charity Gala.”
Now in its second year at MCEC, the GFA is the largest community event hosted at the venue and utilises all 66,300 square metres of space.
MCEC’s chief executive Peter King said the team were proud to support such an iconic event and help the Appeal raise much needed funds for the kids.
“MCEC is a valuable community asset owned by the people of Melbourne, so it is our pleasure to open our doors to the public for such an important event and deliver another record breaking result,” he said.
“Our venue has taken the event to a new level and we look forward to helping the Appeal grow here at MCEC for many more years to come.”
Almost 300 MCEC employees came together to deliver the event, with many donating their time on the day.
MCEC’s in-house pastry chefs handcrafted one of Australia’s largest Easter eggs for the GFA online auction again this year, donating more than 50 hours of their time to create the masterpiece.
Made from chocolate donated by Creative Ingredients, the giant Easter egg and surrounding edible farmyard of chocolate animals weighed in at more than 60kg and raised $1740 for the Appeal.
MCEC’s kitchen team spent more than 200 hours preparing over 23,000 food and beverage items to serve GFA attendees across 18 Made food outlets, using fresh and seasonal Victorian produce.
The venue’s technology team facilitated more than 400 telephones and 270 computers and worked with the broadcaster to stream the telethon live across the venue on 34 screens.
Since 1931 the Good Friday Appeal has contributed more than $291 million to The Royal Children’s Hospital.
