The event was attended by Prime Minister Calin Tariceanu,health minister Eugen Nicolaescu, Romania’s Prince Radu and Princess Margareta, the Un ambassador to Bucharest Soknan Han Jung, French ambassador Henri Paul, British ambassador Robin Barnett, as well as a large number of public figures and representatives of the business environment.
The items auctioned off were donated by Playteam Sara Free, the team that won the Fiat GT World Championship in Bucharest earlier this year.
The event was hosted by Mihaela Radulescu and Dan Vrabie.
"What we are doing here is not charity, but a moral duty,” said Wajiha Haris, head of the Scheherazade Foundation.
“We have all seen that only by joining forces can we help these children,” said in her turn Ioana Tariceanu, the prime minister’s wife and head of the “Healthy Children” Foundation.
The auction started with a pilot suit, at a starting price of EUR1,000, sold for EUR3,000. The priciest item, a car hood, was bought by conservative leader Dan Voiculescu for EUR25,000.
Health minister Nicolaescu said such actions “give us hope and make us want to do the same".
The "Marie Curie" charity gala is part of a wider project aiming to raise funds to renovate the "Marie Curie" children’s hospital in Bucharest, which needs investments of EUR1.5 million.