Celebs raise funds to help heart patients 11th Aug 2008

PETALING JAYA: Local celebrities in soaking wet clothes washed cars over the weekend. No, it was not a movie shoot or a desperate publicity shot.

It was a charity fund-raising initiative organised by IJN Foundation in aid of heart patients in need of financial assistance.

“These celebrities volunteered their time and effort to help raise funds for needy patients. It is indeed a very warm gesture by them,” said foundation general manager Alawiyah Yussof.

The personalities included foundation ambassador Sheila Majid, Raihan, Sarima Ibrahim, Faizal Tahir, Aizad from AF5, and the Gangstarz contestants.

Doing her bit: Malaysia Gangstarz Akasia group’s Nurul Ramdhanis Ahmad Khuzari (right) at the celebrity car wash in Carnauba Autospa in Jalan Tun Razak on Saturday.

Alawiyah said the foundation chose a car wash as a fund-raising campaign as it was more exciting and fun. The two-day initiative raised RM12,000.

“This amount surpassed our target of RM6,000. We had only 300 vouchers worth RM20 each and it was nice to see people coming to do their bit for charity,” she said, adding that some people bought vouchers but did not send their cars in for washing.

Alawiyah said the amount collected would be used to finance some of the patients’ treatments.