Online portal signs up 300 celebrities for charity

Mumbai, Feb 19: An Indian online firm primarily catering to the cause of charity has recently signed up 300 celebrities, including Bollywood personalities Amitabh Bachchan and Deepika Padukone and Indian cricket team captain M S Dhoni, for a campaign to raise funds for mid-day meals.

FlywithVIP.com, an online portal, is auctioning adjoining seats to the highest bidder on an aircraft which a celebrity has boarded so that the auction winner can spend quality time with his favourite celebrity on-board. A majority of the money thereby raised from the auction goes to charity.

"About 85 percent of the proceeds go to a charity, close to the celebrity's heart. In this case, the proceeds went to Akshaya Patra Foundation, the world's largest mid-day meal provider. Since celebrities are frequent fliers, this platform is expected to annually raise about Rs.200 crore for various charities. Already over 300 celebrities have signed up," the company said in a statement.

The company said unlike other meet and greets that are mere photo opportunities, it is offering fliers a chance to spend quality time with their role models.

"There are two methods of participating - an auction model which shall see the highest bidder win the seat and a contest model where multiple participants pay as less as Rs.100 and get selected by lucky draw," it said.

Other prominent celebrities in the list includes Ranbir Kapoor, Abhishek Bachchan, Virat Kohli, Narayana Murthy, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, Sania Mirza, Saina Nehwal, Manish Malhotra, Adi Godrej.

IANS