Lighting up for a cause
TWO HOTELS in Manila recently lit up their Christmas trees along with hopes for the endangered Philippine Eagle, children from the Riversprings school in Pasig City, and the provision of clean water for communities in the Philippines.
While Discovery Primea’s singular tree rose up in its lobby, the Marco Polo Ortigas had two Christmas trees: a main tree decorated in turquoise and Venetian masks (fitting in with a Venetian holiday theme), along with the second, smaller Wings of Hope tree.
The Wings of Hope tree displays Philippine Eagle dolls, as part of a corporate social responsibility project. Each stuffed eagle costs P600, with 100% of the proceeds going to the Davao-based Philippine Eagle Foundation.
“It’s a bit like a hospital there in Davao. They’re all shot at and they’re all broken — wings and legs and whatever. That’s where the money goes,” said Frank Reichenbach, the hotel’s general manager. Meanwhile, each doll “sold” is given to a child from the Riversprings School in Pasig City. “You can write a little message, a little letter to a child; you will pin it to the eagle.”
According to Mr. Reichenbach’s estimate, the Marco Polo group in the Philippines (including properties in Manila, Cebu, and Davao) has been helping the Philippine Eagle Foundation because of the Davao connection.
“That’s where it started. And then Cebu joined, and when we (Marco Polo Ortigas Manila) opened, we immediately joined,” he said, adding that all Hong Kong and China properties also sell the eagle.
Meanwhile, the Discovery Primea partnered with the Philippine arm of international organization Waves for Water. “Well, Waves for Water, we like it very much because they make a real impact on people’s lives,” said David Pardo de Ayala, the hotel’s general manager.
The organization distributes water filtration systems around the world in marginalized communities, from Nepal to the Philippines. “They go to far-flung areas that don’t have basic services,” said Mr. Pardo de Ayala.
He added that part of the reason the Discovery Leisure Company partnered with the organization was because of the location of its properties. “The Discovery leisure Company has properties outside Manila. We have in Tagaytay, in Boracay, Club Paradise in Palawan, and we have properties coming up also outside Manila,” he said. “We like to make a real impact on people’s lives.”
Just like with the Marco Polo group, Discovery Primea aims to make the initiative companywide. “Last year, each hotel, each resort supported a different CSR program, but now we all banded together.”
Although some donations were collected that evening, the hotel plans to bolster its charity efforts throughout the holiday season.
Donation boxes have been set up in the Discovery group’s hotels, while donation envelopes are also enclosed within billfolds in the restaurants, in a project called Change for Water.
Meanwhile, every banquet hosted within the hotels amounting to P100,000 leads to a donation of P2,500 for Waves for Water — the approximate cost of each water filtration system. —