Generous staff bid to aid Haiti relief effort

PRADA shoes and romantic weekend breaks were among the items an Aberdeen firm auctioned off yesterday to raise money for victims of the Haiti earthquake.

Aberdeen Asset Management raised £4,000 by hosting the auction, with employees from offices in Edinburgh and London also bidding for the lots.

Staff, clients and suppliers donated the goods for the event, with items ranging from meals at the Marcliffe and Malmaison hotels to signed footballs, a sterling silver ice bucket and an antique nutcracker in the shape of a crocodile. Several members of staff also volunteered their services as personal butlers or odd-job men.

The money raised from the event will be added to the £20,000 Aberdeen Asset Management has already donated to global organisations working to help people affected by the quake.

More than 200,000 people were killed and hundreds of thousands more injured when the earthquake struck 16 miles west of the Haitian capital Port-au Prince, on January 12.

Martin Gilbert, chief executive of the firm, said: “Our staff have always given generously to good causes. I’d like to thank our staff, clients and suppliers for their generous donations.”