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A kite released by U2's lead singer Bono during one of the band's Auckland concerts last week has fetched $1230 on Trade Me, with proceeds being donated to development agency Oxfam New Zealand.
Two of the 40,000 U2 fans, Claire and Hayden Keam, caught the kite as it floated above them during the last song and promptly put it on the online auction site in a bid to raise money for Oxfam.
The auction closed at 2.20pm today and a bidder by the name of "paitid" will hand over their cash in a three-way exchange with Oxfam and the Keams.
"I'm stoked that we've been able to raise some money for Oxfam," Mrs Keam said.
"I'll miss having the kite on our wall, but knowing that the sale of it will mean that the money will be used to help people that are so much less fortunate than us is brilliant."
Mrs Keam said the Tauranga couple had decided to sell the kite on Trade Me and in honour of Bono's own campaign to end world poverty, they decided to give the proceeds to charity.
"We talked around and looked on the internet and we did our own research and Oxfam is one of the organisations he supports," Mrs Keam said.
Executive director of Oxfam New Zealand Barry Coates said he was looking forward to showing the Keams how the funds they raised will make a huge difference to people living in poverty.
Mr Coates said a large portion of Oxfam New Zealand's income came from members of the public and all of them had their own story of commitment to poverty reduction.
"This is a particularly delightful story of how an individual can seize an opportunity to fight for better lives for the world's poor," he said.
"We want to thank not only Claire and Hayden, but the thousands of New Zealanders who support our work," he added.
"The change we see throughout the world because of the commitment of individual Kiwis is inspiring."
However, Bono's kite fell short of the $22,800 one Trade Me buyer spent on the handbag former All Black captain Tana Umaga walloped a team mate with to calm him down during a night on the town in Christchurch last year.
- NZPA
