12 May 2017 A Few Of Our Favorite Things

 For Playstation’s 20th anniversary, Sony Computer Entertainment teamed up with CharityStars to auction 50 PlayStation®4 (PS4™) 20th Anniversary Editions to support Terre des Homme. These consoles feature the most innovative technology along with the original gray paint scheme, recalling the first PlayStation design. This limited edition console is a true must-have for every gaming fan.  The winners got a unique collection piece and supported a great cause. The proceeds supported the Terre des Hommes project, which provides direct care to over 600 minors suffering from physical or psychological violence. The campaign reached a goal of more than $100,ooo in support of the Terre des Homme project.   “Here at Playstation, we think that every kid should have the possibility to grow happily, without knowing what violence means. Unfortunately, not all of them have had this privilege. For this reason we’re proud to collaborate with Terre des Homme for this project that we hope could bring happiness and fun to all those children that didn’t have this opportunity.” - Marco Saletta - Sony Computer Entertainment Italy General Manager.

We’ve all played Candy Crush, the addicting app that broke so many records. Conceived by Riccardo Zacconi, the app reached the highest position in every game ranking and had over 45 milion unique monthly users. It was this amazing result that convinced Francesco and Luca, two entrepreneurs in the app business, to bid 25,500€ for the opportunity to have lunch with Riccardo Zacconi. “Both of us really admire Riccardo, since he is one of the few Italians who created a billion dollar company in the same market we operate in. He represents an example from which we can learn so much, and that is why we were extremely interested in the opportunity to visit King headquarters and have lunch with him”, said the auction winners. The proceeds of the auction supported Liberamente Onlus and its project, which helped renovate “La Casa Pediatrica”, the pediatric wing of the Fatebenefratelli Hospital in Milan, Italy. However, Francesco and Luca were not the only winners. Our CharityStars team had its own little victory as well. The hospital thanked CharityStars for the collaboration and the visibility of the campaign, and a plaque with the CharityStars logo was hung in the hospital to remind everyone that even an app can have a “sweet” impact on people in need.

Do you need advice on finding the perfect gift for your grandmother? You could buy her flowers, a book, perfume… or you can do what one bidder did and surprise your granny with a lunch with Silvio Berlusconi, the renowned former Italian prime minister.  It’s not the cheapest gift. The winner bid €70,000 to win the lunch, auctioned by CharityStars. The amount, however, was completely worth it. The proceeds directly supported the central Italy earthquake victims.  To make the gift even more special, the lunch is going to take place at Berlusconi’s personal residence in Arcore.  “Dear friends, I decided to auction this experience to support the victims of the Italian earthquake. I think everyone should do everything in his/her means to help our fellow citizens, and sometimes we can be helpful even with smaller gestures. I’ll be really glad to meet and have lunch with the generous winner of the auction, that I hope is going to be sold to a high price, since the proceeds will support the Italian Red Cross!” - Silvio Berlusconi

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