A group of around 35 Sands China Care Ambassadors spent time on Saturday volunteering at Macau Holy House of Mercy’s Welfare Shop, where they distributed 350 food hampers to disadvantaged families ahead of the upcoming Year of the Dog.
It is the sixth year in a row for Sands China to support the Welfare Shop, including a donation of MOP$300,000 to assist families with financial hardships. The food hampers distributed on Saturday contain staple items like rice, noodles, biscuits, canned food, cooking oil, toothpaste, shower gel, bar soap and others.
Several thousand households from disadvantaged neighbourhoods have received food and essentials through the Welfare Shop’s monthly distribution since it was launched in 2013 to help provide relief against the rising cost of living. Sands China has been a major sponsor, contributing a total of MOP$1.7 million since 2013, enough to provide 1,800 food hampers.
“Sands China is pleased to offer our continued support – in the form of both financial and human resources – to Macau Holy House of Mercy’s Welfare Shop, as it provides an important service to the Macau community,” said Dr Wilfred Wong, president of Sands China Ltd. “We’re pleased to see our Sands China Care Ambassadors supporting the Welfare Shop’s efforts to aid local households facing economic difficulties.”
Dr Wong presented a cheque for MOP$300,000 Saturday to Macau Holy House of Mercy President António José de Freita, member of the Board of Trustees Duarte Alves, and President of the Supervisory Committee José Ricardo das Neves.
Leong Heng Kao, president of the General Union of the Neighbourhood Associations of Macau; Siu Siu Man, director of Community Centre of the Federation of Macau Workers Associations, and Winnie Wong, vice president of corporate communications and community affairs for Venetian Macau Limited, were also in attendance.
Founded in August 2009, the Sands China Care Ambassador programme aims to give Sands China employees an opportunity to serve the local community by organising community activities and initiatives that work toward creating a better Macau. With a current membership of more than 1,600 volunteers from across all Sands China properties, the Sands China Care Ambassadors have contributed close to 12,000 hours of voluntary community service in more than 50 activities in 2017. Sands China Ltd considers initiatives like its support of Macau Holy House of Mercy’s Welfare Shop as central to its commitment toward social causes and community involvement; it is one of the many ways the company’s team of volunteers expresses its care and spreads warmth to vulnerable and less-advantaged groups in the Macau community.
Sands China’s community work is part of Sands Cares, the global corporate citizenship programme of parent company Las Vegas Sands Corp.