One Million for Strong and Healthy Families
Last Saturday St. Moritz showed again its glamorous and powerful side, with the Swiss Red Cross Gala 2022, an event that had a one year break of course, but that locals and visitors really love attending. The red carpet, the beautiful ladies, the gorgeous flowers, the live music, and the words of people who work hard to help families with different issues and difficulties always give emotional moments and food for thought. But….but this year the start was lame! How?
Photo: Sabrina Hinder
The Silent Auction – A Secret
The first way to collect donations during the evening is always a silent auction. At the entrance of the dining room, some beautiful jewels, paintings, watches etc, donated by sponsors, are displayed. Guests can offer money to bring them home. During dinner they can do this online, so nobody knows who is doing what. When Christa Rigozzi, the presenter (whose mother tongue is Italian – that’s why the title of this blogpost says un milione) read the collected sum, that was around 100k CHF, she remembered that, in the past years, St. Moritz was giving more. So she mentioned that, with her usual charm, and introduced some of the Swiss Red Cross staff and volunteers, who talked about their experiences. This year the focus was on Bangladesh and Sudan, and on some very personal and touching stories of real people shown in their everyday life. But it was also on the Sustainable Development Goals signed by 193 countries in the world. Yes, you read well: 193! Basically all of them. With different projects around the world, the Swiss Red Cross concentrates on 11 goals, and with the projects showcased during the gala, the focus was on family good health and well-being, gender equality and clean water.
Music, Mangiare, Fun and More Money!
Then she show started. Delicious food by the Kulm Hotel, music, magic tricks, and some fun speeches made the audience warm up. The open auction took place and reached almost 800k CHF. Christa really gave it all and asked all sponsors to offer more items to auction, and all guest to buy them, for the sake of reaching the 1 million target. They made it! After some sweat by everybody, the Red Cross brought home a big fat check.
A good evening is always a team effort and a combination of work by everybody, from the CEO to the waiter, from the star to the small influencer, from the communication manager to the person who is cleaning afterwards. And for sure a big thank you goes to everybody who is working at the Swiss Red Cross. I do believe the future will be better than now, and that our kids will receive a cleaner and more equal planet. Let’s work at it! I hope I can give my small contribution too…and that I will be invited at this beautiful gala again.
Photos: Sabrina Hinder and André Häfliger
Dress: Ragfair
Watch: Breiling
