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The Poem
The Program
The Auction
The Committee
The Sponsors
The Big Ball TVC
The Big Ball Radio Advert
The Big Ball Song
Media Clips
Pictures of The Big Ball
The Financial Statement
In an unprecedented show of unity, executives from the advertising, marketing, public relations, production and communications sectors in Dubai banded together to organise The Big Ball, an exclusive charity event which was held on the 1st March 2007 at the Al Murooj Rotana Hotel in Dubai.
The inaugural event in 2007 was attended by the who's who of the media and entertainment industry as well as guests from the region's top blue chip businesses and corporations. It was supported by the International Advertising Association (IAA) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
One of the main sources of contribution to the event was the auction that facilitated a collection of AED185,000 through the sale of 10 items that included: the stage dress of Sabah, a Lebanese singer and actress whose career has stretched from the mid-1940s till today; the John Lennon and Yoko Ono Limited Edition photographs, signed by the photographer; and Paulo Coelho's Limited Edition litho manuscript collection among others.
The resoundingly successful inaugural event was sponsored by Byblos Bank, DubaiTV, Blink Studios and other generous supporters and raised over $US 100,000 to be donated to the Al Akkar School, Lebanon, one of the schools involved in UNICEF's Adopt-A-School program.
Al Abdeh Public School - Akkar, Lebanon
UNICEF Education began working in Akkar, a remote area nearby Hermel, in the north of Lebanon, under the Adopt A School Initiative. The school is attended by 127 preschool and elementary students. It is owned by Salim Sleiman and managed by Principal Georges Najib Farah with an annual budget pf LL 5.5 million.
However, the actual scope of the Adopt-a-School program encompasses 20 public schools located in the poorest areas of Lebanon, with the number of direct beneficiaries amounting to 3330 schoolchildren, about 7,500 members of their families, 291 teachers and 40 school administrators.
UNICEF is committed to ensuring a higher standard of education through a tripartite solution that covers the physical rehabilitation of premises/water and sanitation facilities; building the capacity of teachers and administrators; and community mobilization.
The Big Ball 2007 celebrated the indomitable power of the human spirit and its ability to move forward in the face of extreme hardship as well as generate positive feeling of well being among those who contribute and are part of it.
Copyright 2007. All rights reserved