Aussie comic raises £10,000 for Sick Kids charity
The Sick Kids Friends Foundation (SKFF) has benefited from the generosity of Fringe audiences at this year’s festival, after Australian comedian Adam Hills collected more than £10,000 for the children’s charity.
Adam Hills’ stand up show, Clown Heart, returned to the capital for its third year and was deemed a Fringe favourite. In between his time on stage, kind hearted comedian Adam braved the cold, standing outside the venue urging donations to the Foundation wearing nothing but pants and a dressing gown!
Adam’s Saltire underwear caught the attention of festival revellers on the Capital’s streets and encouraged a fantastic volume of donations across his week long string of sell-out performances.
Adam Hills said: “The Sick Kids Friends Foundation is an amazing organisation that does an incredible job. All I had to do was mention their name, then stand out the front of the venue with a bucket. The audience did the rest.
“They told me stories of friends, family or their own experiences with the Sick Kids. And they were all incredibly generous. It may have helped that I offered to disrobe for anything over five pounds.”
Rachel McKenzie, head of voluntary fundraising at the Sick Kids Friends Foundation, said: “We are extremely grateful that Adam chose the Sick Kids Friends Foundation to benefit from the incredibly generous donations his audience made across the week-long show.
“The Fringe is famous for bringing the best out in everyone that attends and it’s fantastic to see so many people dig deep and raise such a tremendous total.
“The funds are vital in supporting us to ensure nothing gets in the way of being a child for the thousands of youngsters who visit Edinburgh’s Royal Hospital for Sick Children each year. With the help of this generous donation we will continue to transform the experiences of children in hospital so they can be a child first and a patient later.”
For more information on the work of the SKFF visit www.edinburghsickkids.org.