Together for Short Lives today received one of the largest single donations in its history
Star Wars fans have helped a children’s charity raise an out of this world amount of cash.
Together for Short Lives today received one of the largest single donations in the history of the organisation after the auction for the official Star Wars: The Last Jedi commemorative note closed at a staggering £186,754.
Luke Skywalker himself, aka actor Mark Hamill, is pictured below with one of the notes.
The money raised by the sale, created in partnership with Disney, was auctioned exclusively on eBay, and will help more children with life-threatening and life-limiting conditions receive the very best of care.
The generosity of Star Wars fans around the world has been overwhelming
Mark Hamill
Polly Shute, executive director of fundraising at Together for Short Lives, said: “The generosity of Star Wars fans around the world has been overwhelming and this donation, one of the largest single donations in our history, will make a huge difference to the care we can provide to the 49,000 children and young people in Britain living with life-threatening or life-limiting conditions.
“The money raised could provide over 7,400 hours of specialist hospice care; giving families precious moments together and allowing parents the rare opportunity to just be mum and dad.”
The commemorative note was created using the technological and design expertise of British company De La Rue, a company that provides currency to over two thirds of the world’s countries, including the United Kingdom.
100% of the money raised from the commemorative note will be donated to Together for Short Lives, on behalf of Star Wars: Force for Change, a charitable initiative from Lucasfilm and Disney, which harnesses the strength of Star Wars to empower and improve the lives of children around the world.
eBay was the exclusive home for the auction which saw the limited edition notes available at a fixed price of £100 sell out within just fifteen minutes.
The auction lots, which closed at 8pm on Monday, 18 December, attracted over 2500 bids with winners from Australia, China, Germany, Italy, South Korea, Sweden, the USA and the UK.
Incorporating light side/dark side artwork, the notes feature pattern work of the First Order and Resistance emblems, hidden scenes (discoverable under UV light), hidden messages in microtext (discoverable with an eye glass), a message in Aurebesh, one of the languages of the Star Wars galaxy, and the signature of director/writer Rian Johnson.
The 50 unique, premium notes include an intaglio (a raised, hand-engraving of Rey) and each have a unique, sequenced serial number.
