Christmas came early for dozens of children and their families when Morgan Stanley employees visited the Operation Smile-run charity hospital in Hangzhou in June, supported by the annual Operation Santa Claus fund-raising campaign.
Every year, the South China Morning Post and RTHK organise the Operation Santa Claus charity appeal to help the underprivileged. Last year's campaign raised more than HK$13 million, which went to 14 charities - including the US-based charity Operation Smile - and two social enterprises. Morgan Stanley and other companies dug deep into their pockets to support the cause.
The money donated to Operation Smile helped fund reconstructive surgery for 300 needy children with cleft lips and cleft palates in Hangzhou. As part of Morgan Stanley's charity month in June, 17 employees from its Shanghai office volunteered to go to the Operation Smile charity hospital to visit patients - mostly children - and deliver presents.
'Seeing is believing, so when donors come and visit the centre and talk to the babies and families, then they know what we do in China,' said Michael Wu, chief operating officer of Operation Smile.
The US-based non-governmental organisation, which has its main China office in Hong Kong, has offered free operations to correct cleft lips and palates to the mainland's poor for 20 years.
Each year, one in every 600 babies on the mainland is born with a cleft lip, a cleft palate or both. Both conditions have been linked to genetics or nutrition and they are easily fixed with a one-hour operation that costs between 5,000 yuan and 20,000 yuan (HK$6,100 to HK$24,300). But many families cannot afford it, and the public health system does not provide the surgery, Wu said.