By bidding to purchase an icon’s tie, a child’s life can be saved. MagdiYacoub’s loyal followers know his heart-pattern tie very well, as he wears it during most of his media appearances. The blue tie with smiling hearts is up for auction, as part of a campaign to raise money for his foundation.
Yacoub donated his tie for a mobile-based charity auction called Mazady Felkheir (Auction for Good). Revenues from his auctioned tie will be donated to MagdiYacoub Heart Foundation, which provides medical care for children with cardiac health problems. Yacoub himself originally bought the tie in a fundraiser for European Heart for Children, an international non-profit organisation.
The charity auction is organised by MegaKheir, a not-for-profit mobile donations platform and the CSR arm of TA Telecom, andMazady,a mobile-based auction service under the same company that allows users to bid via mobile text messages.
“Until now, we reached EGP 26,000,” said MaisseraEllaithy, MegaKheir’s product manager at TA Telecom. “Since it’s Ramadan, the month of doing good, we wanted to support associations that freely provide help for others, and we knew that MagdiYacoub’s foundation would be the perfect one to start with.”
Through MazadyFelkheir, participants only need to text “Status” to the number 6066 in order to know the latest price the auction has reached, and texttheirpreferredamountto the same number if they want to make a bid.
The auction started four days ago at EGP 900, and within only a few days hundreds of people participated with hope of making the winning bid on their idol’s favourite tie as well as helping as many children as possible, Ellaithy added.
The auction resulted in a lot of positive feedback from social media users, with even those unable to participate in the auction sharing the news to encourage others to participate. Comments of support filled social media pages, encouraging organisers to continue with their cause. “I hope the tie gets sold for EGP 1m. We don’t get to see many people like MagdiYacoub, who would commit their life to helping others,” one comment said.
“There are so many children waiting for this tie to be sold, and my daughter is one of them. Please help spread the cause and encourage others to participate. She needs an urgent surgery and this auction might help,” said another comment.
“You [MagdiYacoub] don’t only save children’s lives, you teach people lessons on how to purify theirs,” another added.
The tie’s auction runs until midnight on Tuesday. However, the cause will continue to use auctions like this to fundraise until the end of Ramadan. Other celebrities will auction items to raise money for other NGOs that they support. “MagdiYacoub was just the start, many super stars agreed to help us in our cause by donating their favourite personal items for auction,” Ellaithy concluded.