A two-week online auction offering airline tickets and hotel stays will aid development of Latvia’s first family shelter, the Wisconsin-based Kids First Fund has announced.

The eBay auction begins April 15 and ends April 28.

The fund has partnered with 11 airlines, three hotel chains and a recreational vehicle company to offer tickets and vacations in locations around the world, including South America, South Africa, Europe, the Caribbean and destinations throughout the United States and Canada.

Participating in the Great Online Auction for Kids are ATA, AirTran Airways, Independence Air, LAN Airlines, jetBlue Airways, Midwest Airlines, Song, South African Airways, Sun Country Airlines, Swiss International Airlines and Virgin Atlantic Airways. In addition, Hilton Hotels, Intercontinental Hotels and Xanterra Parks & Resorts have made accommodations at destinations throughout the United States available for auction, and Cruise America has provided a gift certificate valid at 15 motorhome rental locations in the United States and Canada.  

Airbus North America has donated a scale model of its new A380 aircraft, the largest commercial airliner ever designed. And eBay.com, the auction host, will donate its auction fees to the Kids First Fund.

Proceeds from the auction will go toward the USD 200,000 budget for a family shelter for abused children and their mothers in the Latgale region of eastern Latvia.

Last year, the Kids First Fund raised more than USD 30,000 through an online auction, Jay Sorensen, president of the fund’s board of directors, said in a press release.

The auction will be available at members.ebay.com/aboutme/kidsfirstfund.