Last few days to buy raffle tickets for Ukraine – foodie prizes on offer

Online raffle organised by chocolatier Sebastian Kobelt aims to raise enough money to help 100 Ukrainian families 

With just a few days to go until his five star “foodie raffle” in aid of the DEC Ukrainian Humanitarian Appeal, is drawn online, award-winning chocolatier, Sebastian Kobelt, is on a mission to secure as many final ticket sales as possible. He’s also spoken of his extreme gratitude towards the numerous Scottish food, drink & hospitality businesses that have contributed to his thousand pound plus prize fund.

Dozens of independent businesses, themselves still recovering from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the hospitality and retail sectors, have donated prizes to the raffle in a “Who’s Who” of top artisan producers, hoteliers and restauranteurs, guaranteed to appeal to the discerning foodie and travel aficionado.    

Hotel and restaurant prizes include dinner for two at the award-winning Aizle in Edinburgh; dinner, bed and breakfast for two at The Roman Camp Hotel in Callander; Lunch or dinner for four at Gary Maclean’s Creel Caught restaurant in Edinburgh’s St James Quarter; a private whisky tasting for two with Colin Hinds at Tipsie Midgie in Edinburgh; lunch for two at The Cellar in Anstruther; lunch for two at The Gannett in Glasgow, dinner for two at Locanda de Gusti and a voucher for 63Taystreet Restaurant in Perth. 

Food and drink prizes include an exclusive Glenmorangie Signet bottle; a hamper with a selection of artisan chocolates from award-winning chocolatier, Sebastian Kobelt; a side of salmon from Belhaven Smokehouse; a chutney masterclass with Jean Miller from the award-winning Millers Larder; a Perfect Porridge Pack from Hamlyns of Scotland; a voucher for the Cheese Byre Shop, plus prizes from Harajuku Kitchen, Fidra Gin, Edinburgh Fermentarium, Chocolates of Glenshiel, Errington Cheese, Jump Ship Brewing, Spice Witch, Gullane Glogg Nuisance Drinks, Great Glen Charcuterie and Linlithgow Distillery. 

Sebastian said: “The raffle is due to be drawn this Friday 27 May, so there are still a few days to buy your tickets, priced at a very affordable £10 each, if you have not already done so. You could win a pretty significant prize – some of the restaurant prizes we have are for really prestigious and sought after eateries. What a treat to win a meal at some of these amazing places, and you are helping the people of Ukraine at the same time.”

Sebastian went on to say that he had “found it impossible to just to sit back and do nothing” when the war started in February. 

“As a family man myself it was truly heartbreaking to think of families being separated and not knowing if or when they would ever see each other again,” he said. “Many Ukrainians have now come to the UK but are going to need a great deal of support moving forward.”

“It was my pleasure to approach my own community of independent food producers, hoteliers and restauranteurs – many of whom I know – and ask them to help, but I have been blown away by their response,” he added. “Let’s make their great prizes count!”

£100 will provide emergency food for two families for one month. 

“If we can sell at least 500 tickets, which was always our target, we can support 100 families,” said Sebastian. 

Sebastian, who began his career as a pastry chef working in his grandfather’s bakery in Berlin when he was just sixteen years old, finished by explaining how a heart shaped  chocolate sprayed in the Ukrainian colours of blue and yellow had become a symbol of his fund raising efforts:

“I always attend a foodie market in Stockbridge on the first Sunday in every month,” he said. “I decided to display some of the chocolates I had created in support of Ukraine on my stall, not long after the war had first started. I got such a huge response to the chocolates from the public, with many people asking if I would sell them, with profits going to Ukraine, but I figured that a raffle would be a far more effective way of raising significant amounts of money, as they were just little hollow chocolates with no filling in them. However, I later put pictures of them on my social media channels, again getting a massive response, so they have really become the symbol of my campaign and were a very eye catching way of raising awareness.”

“Please buy a raffle ticket if you possibly can,” said Sebastian. “They are on sale at app.galabid.com/fundsforukraine. One hundred per cent of the money raised will go to the DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.” 

Winners will be drawn at random on 27 May 2022 and will be contacted by email on 3rd June 2022.