Thank you, Shenzhen: The 16th Annual CAPTIVATING Charity Auction

Charity Auction Venue, Futian Shangri-la, Shenzhen

On behalf of the Shenzhen Charity Federation CAPTIVATING Fund, thank you SO MUCH for, once again, confirming for the world what an amazing community of people you are. Saturday, 12th October, 2024 saw 500 people come together to help improve the lives of young girls, moms, and their children. Once again, our thanks to the wonderful team at the Futian Shangri-la, Shenzhen for working with the Captivating auction committee team and so many volunteers to put on an amazing event.

Together, as a community village, we confirmed through our actions and generosity that we are indeed “Standing with You” to the 1,000 lives we will help progress over this next year together. These 1,000 lives (single moms, young women, and children) across Yunnan, Qinghai, Sichuan, Guangxi and Guizhou Provinces are specifically selected as those who are most in need of additional support to help progress. Together, we have made this next step possible – another step forward into better and more stable futures. At CAPTIVATING, we are thrilled to make this possible in partnership with the Shenzhen Charity Federation and our registered on-the-ground charity partners. And, we have this amazing Shenzhen community to thank for it.

We can confirm an amazing, RMB 1.03 million was raised thanks to this event. We are thrilled.

How Your Support Will Make a Difference:

Because of this night, and thanks to the support of our incredible corporate project sponsors, over the coming 12 months:

• · 180 moms struggling to make ends meet for their families will be trained in Captivating’s Pigs, Poultry & Prosperity Program where they will receive quality pigs and chickens, along with 8 months of training and support. This gives them the opportunity to increase their monthly earning capacity, benefiting their 360+ children and aging parents as a result;
• · 30 moms in Qinghai province will receive specialized tailoring training making it possible for them to earn income from their remote home locations and local tailoring businesses, benefiting upwards of 60+ lives including children and aging parents;
• · 500 underprivileged students in remote Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou will be supported through another year of senior high school, bringing financial relief to both them and their parents struggling with the costs of senior schooling; and
• · 1,300 primary school students across remote locations will have a volunteer teacher help them through this next year. This event enables Captivating to reach our goal of supporting 30 teachers over these next 12 months.

Auction ongoing

Auctioneer Tyler Colquhoun facilitating the auction

Thank you to everyone who made this event possible:

To all of our event organizers; our incredibly hard-working auction committee and over 100 volunteers; our amazing school and business community; the many companies who donated goods for auction; our amazing group of artists and their artwork this year (co-curated by Brittan Aebischer & Serena Cole); our awesome MC Jeremy Sargent, and amazing auctioneer Tyler Colquhoun who worked hard for a solid 3 hours; our sound and lighting crew and DJ Pax who lead our audio/visual team for the 12th year; our incredibly generous corporate sponsors; event partners; and of course to you, our 500 guests – THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH. You’ve helped underwrite the work of the Shenzhen Charity Federations CAPTIVATING fund and programs for another year.

Of course this is just the beginning. We’d love you to stay connected with us as we work to implement all that has been made possible thanks to this event. We look forward to updating you over the coming year on how these projects go. Be sure to keep an eye out for emails and social media updates that come out on a semi-regular basis.

As we sign off I have one last thank you. To our AMAZING, consistent and loyal Shenzhen Captivating team, and to the team at the Shenzhen Charity Federation. Your desire to keep doing this year after year is astounding and we are so lucky to have had such a committed team for so many years. A special call-out to Serena Cole, Tracy Chen, Lynn Velez and Ashley Stahle who always lead from the front, supported by an amazing team. Your efficiency, event management and problem-solving skills are second to none. We are so proud of what you’ve done. Each year seems to get better than the last, and we have you all to thank for it. Congratulations and thank you.

After more in Shenzhen?

Join us December 7th for our annual Santa Run. See www.captivatingevents.org for the details and keep an eye out for our WeChat posts. This year, we are thrilled to welcome back Husky Energy as Naming Sponsors of this event. So, see you all at the HUSKY SANTA RUN, 8 am December 7th, Shenzhen Bay.

We love you Shenzhen. Thank you for “standing with us”, so that together we can say “we’re standing with you”.

If you have any great suggestions for the event, we would love to hear your feedback! Please feel free to reach out to us at charityauction@captivating.org. Thank you!

Andrew Colquhoun

CEO & Co-Founder of Captivating | Founding Member of the Shenzhen Charity Federation CAPTIVATING Fund

andrewc@captivating.org

Go to this link to view our photo gallery of the event