International Care Ministries (ICM), an organization helping alleviate the impoverished in Negros, Bohol, and Mindanao, held its annual fundraising art auction in Hong Kong recently. The auction raised over HK$3.2 million, or around P17.8 million. The money will be used to fund ICM’s HK$30 million cash budget during the current fiscal year.

ICM was founded in 1992 by Sharon Pastre, a Singaporean living in Hong Kong at the time. During a visit to Bacolod, Negros Occidental, to “spot check” the five pastors she supported, Sharon was struck by the the poverty she saw in the slums.

With her own personal funds and help from friends in Hong Kong, she organized an open-air clinic and weekly food distribution for 200 children in Bacolod. Since then, ICM has grown to a ministry, which serves hundreds of thousands of the poor each year.

Some of the works sold at the auction included a sculpture by Glenn Cagandahan, “Red Bull,” which sold for HK$17,000 or P94,000; paintings by Dominic Rubio (sold for HK$38,000 or P211,000) and Carlo Magno (sold for HK$40,500 or P224,800); and a fascinating painting by Richard Arimado, which garnered 22 bids and sold for HK$39,800 or P221,000.

This year, the auction was streamed live over the Internet, so viewers were able to watch the bidding and send in bids through e-mail and Twitter. Kristine Fladeboe Duininck of Fladeboe Auctions was the auctioneer of the event, which was the highlight of ICM’s annual Global Banquet. The banquet raised over HK$11.4 million, or P63.3 million.

Visit www.caremin.com.