Football: David Beckham joins All In Challenge

David Beckham, the former England soccer captain and now co-owner of Major League Soccer's Inter-Miami, is giving fans a chance to play a five-a-side charity match and raise funds to help feed those in need during the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Beckham's offer is part of the "All In Challenge" in which athletes and celebrities come up with special fan experiences to raise money for selected charities.

Along with getting a chance to form a team to play with the former Manchester United midfielder, the winner will have lunch with Beckham and watch an Inter-Miami match from the owner's suite.

In a video, the 44-year-old Beckham challenged his former clubs Manchester United, Real Madrid and Paris St Germain to join in the charity effort.

The winner will be chosen from a raffle with fans able to purchase 10 entries for $10.

MLS is also offering up a one-off prize with a fan getting a chance to replace commissioner Don Garber's name on the game ball when the league returns to action and on the 2021 MLS All-Star game ball, which also includes a VIP All-Star weekend trip.

A number of high-profile athletes have stepped up to join the cause, including six-times Super Bowl champion quarterback Tom Brady, who is offering tickets to his first home game with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, dinner and/or a workout plus his game jersey and cleats.

Other prizes include batting practice and dinner with New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, a chance to play in the NBA Celebrity All-Star Game or appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated. 

(Reporting by Steve Keating in Toronto. Editing by Ed Osmond)

-reuters-

Online fundraiser for bushfire-hit koalas tops Aus$1 million

SYDNEY, Australia—An online fundraiser for koalas injured in devastating bushfires topped Aus$1 million ($680,000) on Thursday, making it Australia's biggest campaign on the GoFundMe platform this year.

Deadly bushfires have ravaged vast swathes of eastern Australia, and wildlife carers estimate the blazes have killed hundreds of koalas this month in New South Wales state alone.

A crowdfunding page set up by the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital to provide automatic water drinking stations for wild koalas soared past Aus$1 million, with donations from more than 20,000 people from countries including the United States, France and England.

The wildlife charity's "Help Thirsty Koalas Devastated by Recent Fires" drive, which had an initial goal of just Aus$25,000, got more donations than any other campaign in Australia this year, GoFundMe said, and is the second-biggest since the platform launched Down Under in 2016.

It is one of 700 bushfire-related fundraisers launched on the platform in the past 10 days, which to date have raised a combined total of Aus$2 million.

The next-biggest has raised Aus$60,000 to support firefighters and people impacted by the blazes, which have killed 6 people, razed hundreds of homes and scorched about 1.5 million hectares (3.7 million acres) of land since October.

The koala hospital, some 4 hours north of Sydney, has rescued 31 koalas from the scorched bush in recent weeks, and said it had been "overwhelmed by the kindness, good wishes and support from the Australian and international community."

It plans to use the excess funds to deliver koala drinking stations to other parts of the state, purchase a water-carrying vehicle to replenish the stations, and to establish a koala breeding program.

With more than 1.3 million hectares (3.2 million acres) of land scorched in the state, the fires have also destroyed large tracts of the tree-dwelling marsupial's habitat.

A so-called "Koala Ark" would be built for recovering koalas, the hospital said, hoping they will eventually breed and be returned to the wild.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Zuckerberg to hold Christie fundraiser

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a possible Republican presidential nominee in 2016, is getting a financial boost from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

Zuckerberg announced Thursday he and his wife will host a fundraiser for the governor in February in their home in Palo Alto, Calif., The New York Times reported.

An aide to Christie said the governor and Zuckerberg became friends after meeting in 2010. The same year, Zuckerberg announced a $100 million contribution to the schools in Newark, New Jersey's largest city, making the announcement with Christie and the city's Democratic Mayor Cory Booker at his side.

A spokeswoman for Zuckerberg said he admires Christie's accomplishments in education in New Jersey, including changing the rules on teacher tenure and convincing Newark teachers to accept performance bonuses.

Christie is expected to run for a second term this year. Booker was talked about as a potential Democratic candidate but has decided to run for the Senate in 2014 instead.

The governor's popularity in New Jersey rose after Superstorm Sandy battered the state. But his appearance with President Obama in the wake of the storm and just before the presidential election angered many Republicans.

source: upi.com