£5M For Unicef From Games Appeal

About £5 million has been raised for children's charity Unicef thanks to the Commonwealth Games. The money comprises £3.7 million raised following a live appeal by actor James McAvoy and Olympian Sir Chris Hoy during the opening ceremony at Celtic Park in Glasgow on July 23. A further £1.2 million was raised through the partnership between Unicef, Glasgow 2014 and the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) before the Games, with the remainder coming from continued fundraising throughout 11 days of competition. Speaking at the closing ceremony at Hampden Park tonight, Prince Imran of Malaysia, CGF president, said: The generous support of our partnership with Unicef and Glasgow 2014 has raised a magnificent £5 million, which is already transforming lives throughout the world."Thank you all for being so generous.'' The charity said the money will allow them to achieve the ambition of reaching every child in every Commonwealth country in a range of ways, including using sport and education in Malawi to engage with young people and help reduce HIV infection. David Bull, UK executive director of Unicef, added: From the bottom of my heart I would like to thank everyone who has supported the Put Children First campaign - we could not have done this without you."Both through raising such an impressive sum, and also through placing children and young people firmly at the heart of these Games, we have achieved something never done before." We will now set to work to ensure this money really does save and change millions of children's lives across the Commonwealth, whether that is in Paisley or Papua New Guinea, Guyana or Ghana. Together we have shown that we can, and we will, Put Children First.''