When Seeley International founder and Executive Chairman, Frank Seeley AM FAICD, was given an inexpensive bottle of ‘Braemar’ scotch by a dealer for a laugh back in 2001, he never could have imagined that it would become one of the cornerstones of the Company’s charitable imperatives to change the lives of hundreds of children.
In every year that has followed, that same unopened bottle of scotch – which shares the same name as the award-winning Braemar air conditioning ranges – is auctioned at the Gala Dinner as part of Seeley International’s VIP Conference, with delegates never holding back when it comes to lively and generous bidding for a worthy cause.
Frank said proceeds enable distribution of funds to a designated children’s charity near, or in, the host country of the international conference as well as a worthy Australian-based cause.
“I remember having a good chuckle when I first became aware of this particular $10 bottle of Braemar scotch, but it got me thinking that it created an opportunity to achieve a much higher purpose, and it was used as the prize at an auction, raising about $2,500 that year, which we matched dollar for dollar from our charitable fund,” Frank says.
“The winning bidder re-gifted the unopened bottle at the conference the following year, and we doubled the amount raised.
In the many years that have followed, that bottle has become part of Seeley International’s folklore and has, with the amount raised this year, now generated more than $2m for children,” he says.
“The OM Indonesia Project is working to break the cycle of begging by local children by offering them education opportunities, which brings learning to them through its “Street School” project. Our efforts will fund that worthy project, as well as the Smart School project, which provides after-school learning for about 70 children in the S-tribe – one of the largest unreached tribes left in the world,” Frank says.
“And the third OM Indonesia Project to be supported is achieving some amazing results in partnership with local NGO, Geresa, through the Merdeka Outreach Project in Bali, which provides a rehabilitation centre for young offenders, as well as women and girls rescued from the sex industry.”
In keeping with tradition, the Everglades Fund created by Frank and wife Kathy will match the dealer donations dollar for dollar, with this year’s other recipient again being Variety – The Children’s Charity. The donation will help provide individuals and organisations with access to a range of special needs equipment, including wheelchairs, vocal output speech devices, prosthetic limbs, play equipment, Liberty Swings and Sunshine Coaches.