Women in Travel Retail (WiTR) has raised around €35,000 – surpassing it’s previously announced target of €25,000 – for the Sierra Leone based charity, All As One. The funds are needed to purchase a lorry to build much needed facilities for children living in challenging circumstances in Sierra Leone.

 

TRBusiness’ Deputy Editor, Charlotte Turner joined Janice Hook, Financial Director to officially handed over a cheque for €2,500 to WiT’s Gerry Munday and Sarah Branquino at the TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes earlier this week, on behalf of all of the Directors. TRBusiness also provided an All As One charity bucket at its biannual TRBusiness Rocks event on Wednesday night, to boost funds.

 

The money raised will go towards buying a lorry to transport building materials for a children’s home, school and medical centre in Sierra Leone.

 

TRBusiness Directors, Doug Newhouse, Nigel Hardy and Janice Hook were delighted that they were able to help WiT well exceed its goal of €25,000, with its donation.

 

WiTR held its annual general meeting on Tuesday of this week, hosting a silent auction and raffle, which cost €20 to enter.

 

Other pledges of note include designer handbags courtesy of DFS; an Irish Rugby team shirt kindly donated by Jack McGowan, CEO, Aer Rianta International; a complimentary DPS in the Moodie Report, and generous cash donation from The Travel Retail Business.

 

Co-organizer Gerry Munday of Furla says, “We cannot thank all of you enough for your support and generosity.”

 

On hearing of the support received from the travel retail industry, All As One sent their heartfelt thanks adding, “Along with this health (Ebola) crisis, comes huge inflation and rising prices for basic supplies, impacting our budget and our ability to provide food and other basic needs for the children. The number of Ebola orphans is also rising and we expect that our services will be needed long into the future.”