Urban Synergy Charity Auction Fundraiser

Leading London mentoring charity, Urban Synergy last night held a successful event to raise funds to continue providing young people, many from black and minority ethnic backgrounds with mentoring opportunities in London. Guests showed their support for Urban Synergy by attending and donating at the event hosted by MTV presenter, Darae Palmer and BBC London radio DJ, Eddie Nestor.

Urban Synergy is the mentoring resource pool that matches young people with volunteer one-to-one mentors with the aim of guiding mentees and helping them to realise their potential and achieve success.

The fundraiser held at Cargo in Shoreditch on Sunday 20 May featured live music, comedy, poetry and dancing, with the main event being an auction with donations from many of the professionals who regularly support Urban Synergy. The top auction lot was a set of VIP tickets to the musical Thriller Live, donated by producer Adrian Grant along with dinner at The Ivy restaurant. Other lots available in the auction included a signed England football shirt; dinner at a Marco Pierre White restaurant; portrait photos by a celebrity photographer; and signed photos of Michael Owen and Lennox Lewis.

Urban Synergy Director and event organiser Dianne Johnson commented:

This has been an incredibly successful event and all of us at Urban Synergy are delighted at the support from everybody who attended and donated. The auction was fantastic, helped by a wonderful surprise appearance from Eastenders actress’ Tameka Empson. The funds raised will go towards ensuring that Urban Synergy continues to be a first class mentoring resource, making a difference to young people in London.

MTV presenter and Urban Synergy supporter, Darae Palmer added:

I’ve seen first hand the difference that Urban Synergy makes to youngsters who may be struggling either in school, in their personal lives or at home. This evening was a celebration of what Urban Synergy has achieved so far. It was amazing to see the variety of people who step up to volunteer their time including academics, pilots, barristers and other professionals from medicine, to finance and IT. Raising money to keep helping young people to achieve success is great and I’m proud to be part of this.

Urban Synergy was founded in 2007 by Leila Thomas. Since then Leila and the charity have won several awards for volunteering and mentoring. With strong support from the local community, parents and teachers, Urban Synergy has helped over 1,000 young people to realise their ambitions through mentoring support as well as being given opportunities to do work experience and attend educational courses. Urban Synergy has also now trained 100 mentors through its Approved Provider Standard accredited mentoring scheme.