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.
“We hope to bring the colourful joys of life to not just our guests and colleagues, but also to those who are not as fortunate in our community,” Lê said.
She added that Covid-19 and quarantine taught everyone that it was important to continue to engage with each other. Lê stressed the importance for hotels and other businesses to join fundraising effort to acknowledge the less fortunate and recognise that everyone was part of the community.
For Shangri-La, this means creating an extensive range of products to sell for fundraising – from gingerbread houses with candied frost to its Tiramisu Yulelog and Christmas cinnamon rolls.
“The more we have to produce, the more we are motivated because we know a portion of it is donated to OSC,” Lê said.
“It’s fun. After we finished this year, we already have ideas for next year.”
Gould from RTHK praised the hotel for not only putting up a “spectacular” Christmas tree but also for its fundraising.
“We are very grateful for how supportive they have been; they continue to be a key donor,” Gould said. “We always find during Operation Santa Claus that there’s a lot of generosity in Hong Kong.”
Before girls and boys from the SWAN Academy Children’s Choir (Hong Kong) dazzled the crowd in the lobby with their Christmas songs, Gould reflected on what has been most touching for him in overseeing the annual fundraising effort along with OSC staff.
“Talking to the NGOs and [seeing that] some of their clients are people living with disabilities and less well-off people, that’s when you can really see the benefits of OSC,” Gould said.
