Hospitality beyond guests: Kowloon Shangri-La highlights care for Hong Kong community in Christmas charity drive for Operation Santa Claus
- Hotel marks two-decade commitment to raising money for good causes with lobby celebration and festive market
- This year’s goal for fundraising drive is to match last year’s OSC donation of HK$120,000
In the lobby of the Kowloon Shangri-La filled with excited guests and staff on an evening in early December, a floor-to-ceiling Christmas tree was lit up to mark the start of festive celebrations and the hotel’s two-decade-long commitment to raising money for Hong Kong charities.
The ceremony on December 1 was officiated by hotel manager Ghislaine Lê and two Operation Santa Claus (OSC) representatives, Jim Gould, head of English programme services at RTHK and David Wong, OSC project director.
OSC is a fundraising initiative held by the South China Morning Post and public broadcaster RTHK annually. Since 1988, it has raised HK$353 million (US$45.4 million) to support the Hong Kong community through 323 charitable projects. This year is the 35th anniversary of OSC and there are 15 charitable projects being funded.
Every year, the hotel tries to do something creative to raise funds. This year, it created two items for its charity sale: the Nutcracker panda plush doll and the Nutcracker keychain, which sell for HK$120 each. All proceeds from the sale of the items and part of the revenue from the hotel’s Christmas Market festive goodies will be donated to OSC.
The hotel donated HK$120,000 to OSC last year and is hoping to at least match that amount this year.
“Kowloon Shangri-La is proud to be supporting OSC as we know that our donated funds will be well-used to support their beneficiaries, which include helping children and the youth, the environment and community, elderly and those who have physical and mental disabilities,” Lê said.
She pointed out that hospitality was not only about hosting guests in a hotel but helping people in the community.
