A smashing success for the Good Friday Appeal at MCEC

Over 80,000 Victorians flooded Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC) yesterday for the state’s 85th Good Friday Appeal (GFA), raising a record-breaking total of $17,445,624 for The Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne.

Director of the Appeal, Anne Randall praised the generosity of Victorians who rally together every year to raise much-needed funds for children in need.

"We owe a huge thank you to the communities across the state who have donated time, resources and funds to achieve this incredible result for the kids once again,” Ms Randall said.

"Over the last three years MCEC has helped us take the Channel 7 Telethon, Kids Day Out activities and Night Show to new heights, and we’re showing no signs of slowing down!”

MCEC Chief Executive, Peter King said the entire team was incredibly proud to support such an iconic event to help the Appeal raise life-changing funds.

“It is our pleasure to open our doors to the public for such an important event and be able to deliver another record-breaking result, underpinned by our great community coming together.

“We are now true partners in the Good Friday Appeal family and it is an absolute pleasure to work with Channel 7, Herald and Weekly Times and 3AW to deliver this special event.

“The day has been transformed into a true family experience and is a fitting celebration of the generosity of the Victorian community," Mr King added.

MCEC’s talented in-house pastry chefs delivered another impressive chocolate creation this year, handcrafting a giant 50kg Easter egg filled with over 500 mini chocolate eggs. The egg was smashed open on the day by Channel 7 Saturday Disney host, Teigan Nash.

A golden ticket competition selected 30 lucky kids to be part of the egg smash, winning the exclusive opportunity to collect as much chocolate as they could from the smashed egg, while also raising additional funds for the Appeal through gold coin donations.

MCEC’s kitchen team spent more than 250 hours preparing house-made food items to serve GFA attendees across 14 Made food outlets, with 190 Food and Beverage employees working on the day.

The venue’s technology team facilitated more than 300 telephones and 370 computers and worked with the broadcaster to stream the telethon live across the venue.

GFA also utilised MCEC’s vision, audio and lighting for the Night Show concert in Plenary.

Since 1931 the Good Friday Appeal has contributed more than $308 million to The Royal Children's Hospital.