Wellcome throws Christmas cake-off for sick children
Wellcome supermarket throws baking party for children with heart disease, showing its commitment to festive family values
While festive shoppers sweep food off store shelves in preparation for holiday feasts, a supermarket chain has demonstrated its sense of family values by hosting a Christmas party for sick children and their families.
Noise and laughter filled the room as the children and their families, helped by Wellcome volunteers, squeezed out icing to decorate chocolate cakes.
"I'm so happy today because it's my first time to make a cake," said nine-year-old Sunny Cheung Chun-ho. He was recently discharged from a nine-month hospital stay after heart surgery.
The families are all being helped by the Children's Heart Foundation (CHF), one of the 18 beneficiaries of this year's Operation Santa Claus (OSC) fundraising drive.
"We are eager to make children happy," said Wellcome's chief executive Choo Peng Chee at the event.
"These children are a bit less fortunate, and it's good to bring them out. This activity is an extension of the values we've been faithful to over the years."
OSC is a charity appeal jointly organised by the and RTHK. It is raising funds for a CHF hostel, located next to Queen Mary Hospital, which provides lodging for parents of hospitalised children. Wellcome wanted to support CHF's work because of its focus on helping the families of children with congenital heart diseases, said Choo.
Wellcome says it has promoted family values in other ways, including inviting the relatives of warehouse staff to visit the workplace.
"The warehouse may be a boring place to visit, but the purpose is to show their families what their parents do, and to see how tough a day at work is," said Choo.
In May, Wellcome volunteers held a workshop to teach disabled children how to shop in a supermarket. "In addition to our time at work, we also like to help people in the community," volunteer Mandy Lam Yan-yu said.
Timsik Man, a social worker with the children's foundation, said supporting families like Cheung's is important since a child's lengthy hospital stay can exhaust parents and affect siblings.
HOW YOU CAN GIVE
- Donate online by credit card at osc.scmp.com
- Donate at an ATM or at any HSBC branch (account no: 502-676299-001 for SCMP Charities Ltd - Operation Santa Claus)
- You can donate with a cheque payable to "SCMP Charities Ltd - Operation Santa Claus" and mail it to: Operation Santa Claus, Morning Post Centre, 22 Dai Fat Street, Tai Po Industrial Estate, New Territories,
- Donations of HK$100 or more are tax-deductible. If you would like a tax receipt, please send the completed donation form and original bank receipt, with your name, address and phone number, to the above address. Please call 2680 8159 or e-mail [email protected] with any inquiries, or visit us online at osc.scmp.com
