Dubai: Rare number plates, phone numbers raise Dh53 million in 2 hours to feed the hungry

Four rare vehicle plates and 10 fancy phone numbers raised Dh53 million in less than two hours to help feed the needy around the world on Saturday night. Proceeds from the Most Noble Numbers charity auction have bolstered the total donations collected by the UAE’s 1 Billion Meals Ramadan initiative to Dh391 million.

The initiative is the largest in the region to provide food support to the underprivileged and undernourished in 50 countries.

The top dirham-grossers were single-digit vehicle plate number AA8, which sold for an astounding Dh35 million, while a bidder scooped mobile number 54 999 9999 for a cool Dh5 million.

Here is a breakup of the amounts collected by the fancy numbers:

The Most Noble Numbers charity auctions offer an innovative concept for businesspeople and philanthropists to support the humanitarian goals of the 1 Billion Meals initiative.

The auctions will continue throughout the coming week. The Abu Dhabi Police are organising an online auction for 555 unique vehicle plate numbers on April 17 and 18. The respective special vehicle plate numbers can be viewed and bid for via the website https://www.emiratesauction.com/ or via the Emirates Auction app.

In addition, a second Most Noble Numbers charity auction will be held at the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, April 20, the evening of Zayed Humanitarian Day.

The public can also donate to the ‘1 Billion Meals’ campaign through the campaign’s official website: www.1billionmeals.ae or a bank transfer to the campaign’s account at Emirates NBD, number: AE300260001015333439802. Donors can also opt to donate Dh1 a day through a monthly subscription by sending “Meal” via SMS to 1020 on the du network or 1110 on the Etisalat network. Donations can also be made through campaign’s call centre via a toll-free number 8009999.