£50 cake sells for £20,000 at Isoc charity auction

UCL students have raised £20,000 for charity by selling a single cake on the closing auction of Charity week.

The auction was held in a Cruciform lecture theatre on Friday 30 of October, and began with two groups of students bidding, and quickly escalated as a joint bid of £20,000 was proposed.

UCLU Education and Campaigns Officer Wahida Samie told London Student, “just a few hundred students in one lecture theatre did this. It just shows what students are capable of doing when they unite.”

La Gateau pastry chefs donated the stunning cake for Charity Week.

The organiser of the 2014 Charity week and the auctioneer, Raees Lunat, said, “I was truly overwhelmed by the unity and the generosity shown by all UCL students throughout the whole week, but particularly at our Charity Week dinner.

“The unity between students was epitomised by our charity week cake, where all the attendees pooled together to auction off our cake for a phenomenal record breaking twenty thousand pounds.

“This once again proves the power of the UCL student body, and shows that if we work together what we can achieve is limitless.”

According to Asma, one of the bakers at La Gateau, that type of custom cake usually only costs £50. She said: “I had no idea it went for so much, that’s so cool. I’m really surprised.

“It was one of our 12 inch fresh cream cakes, with vanilla sponge and vanilla cream.”

The money raised by the organisers at UCL Charity week will be given to orphans and children in need around the globe.

The fundraising week was launched in 2004 and became an annual event at UCL. The event is organised by the University of London Union’s Islamic Society together with one of the Disasters Emergency Committee charities – Islamic Relief.

In 2013, UCL students managed to raise £75,000. The total number for this years fundraising isn’t yet counted, but a £20,000 cake is definitely a good sign for the announcement due on November 23rd.