January 26th 2008
Tom Hanks Auctions Off Solar-Powered Radios For Rural Africa
Filed under: campaigns — michael @ 5:46 pm
Tom Hanks is one of the few activist/actors that has personally taken advantage of the YouTube phenomenon to promote campaigns he’s passionate about. And it’s his style that I really enjoy — down to earth, easy to follow, a bit comedic. It’s not that he’s at some studio — he’s doing these informative videos from his home, his car — however he can get the message across. Good stuff.
His latest campaign is a charity auction for the Freeplay Foundation benefiting rural poor areas of Africa. Hanks has personally autographed the wind-up and solar-powered radios, and is auctioning them up on eBay. The winning bidders will also receive a personal letter and signed picture from the actor. All of the auction proceeds will go towards Freeplay’s work in Africa. Here’s a bit about the radio:
The Lifeline is a self-powered radio designed specifically for children living on their own, distance education or other humanitarian projects. Robustly constructed to operate in the harshest of conditions and climates, the Lifeline radio is rugged, colourful, easy to use and carry, receives excellent AM/FM/SW and plays for many hours non-stop on wind-up energy or solar power. It is available to aid and donor agencies for bona fide humanitarian initiatives.
Click here to visit the auction and get your bid in! Lowest bid looks to be about $600 at the moment. The fun will end February 1st. Check out Tom’s video below:
I’m going to bid Tom, even though I know I can’t outbid some of the high rollers out there it’ll be fun!
Thank you for lending your name and your time to such a very worthy cause. I hope every mother and child and elderly person in Africa who needs a radio will be able to get one.
God bless everyone.
[...] well as humanitarian communication efforts in Africa all by signing his name. Through February 1st, autographed solar powered, wind-up radios will be on the auction block via eBay to raise money for the Freeplay Foundation — an organization that provides innovative energy [...]
[...] to Ecorazzi for the heads up! How useful is this post? 0(0 [...]
Isn’t the Freeplay Foundation just great? I actually own a Freeplay radio (from their commercial sister company) and it’s the coolest thing. I love how they’re taking this innovative technology and bringing the world to villages in Africa and Afghanistan! They truly do ROCK!
[...] in January, actor Tom Hanks auctioned off some autographed solar-powered radios that were also headed to villages in need. Great to see that this latest campaign will address [...]