Merrill Lynch staff raise funds in nine-hole office game Over hills, dales, water bottles and onto the desks - all the hazards of a golf course and more can be found at a mini-golf day Merrill Lynch-style. About 100 of the investment bank's employees, including caddies, scorers and course designers, let their hair down to negotiate a nine-hole mini-golf course last Friday as part two of their month-long drive to raise 'at least HK$1 million' for Operation Santa Claus this year. In just two hours of 'hazard-filled golfing' during their afternoon tea break, the mini-golf day was able to raise HK$81,500. With the 11th Annual Merrill Lynch Operation Santa Claus Golf Day at Xili Golf and Country Club in Shenzhen earlier this month having raised HK$500,000, Danielle Gernandt, from the marketing and communications department, said the mini-golf day 'puts us well on track to raise more than HK$1 million'. Merrill Lynch will continue to raise funds for the rest of the month. Rob Stewart, head of marketing and communications for the Asia-Pacific region, said: 'We are very happy to have raised more money. We look forward to doing it again next year.' Teams of three negotiated the nine-hole course, set up in two of its offices at Citibank Tower in Central. The winning team - Alban Gerard, Dhruv Sahgal and Jiyoung Lee from the equity structure solutions team - finished in 30 strokes. The team that raised the most in sponsorship comprised Roslyn Ma, Denis Miles-Vinall and Jeena Lee from human resources. Volunteers set up the mini-golf course overnight from A4 paper boxes, mailing tubes, Watsons' water bottles, Lego bridges and printouts of forests, bushes and beachfronts. Asked about the future of the Operation Santa Claus effort under a 'new' Merrill Lynch - it has been taken over by Bank of America - Mr Stewart said: 'It's a very good charity. We have been doing it for a long time, and hopefully it will carry on.' He said Asia had been 'more insulated' from the global financial crisis than US and Europe. 'There is more liquidity,' he said. 'If you look at it, there have been crises in Asia every five years for the last 20 years.' He said banks in the region were 'well capitalised'. The 'China factor' also 'augurs well for the rest of the region ... but it is not a panacea for everything'. Merrill Lynch is raising money for two of this year's Operation Santa Claus beneficiaries: the End Child Sexual Abuse Foundation, which wants to establish preventive programmes for Forms One to Three students; and Operation Dawn, a Christian drug rehabilitation centre which wants to provide training in basic IT to former drug addicts. Organised by the South China Morning Post and RTHK, Operation Santa Claus, now in its 21st year, will aid 13 groups. Funds will also go to the Post Homes for Hope project to help victims of the Sichuan earthquake rebuild their homes. Operation Santa Claus aims to raise HK$10 million this year.
