POSITIVELY IMPACTING LOCAL COMMUNITIES | Melco continues to mobilize volunteers for Simple Acts of Kindness
Melco Resorts & Entertainment prioritizes the needs of its local communities and is committed to making a positive impact. The company works hand in hand with community partners to support social wellbeing through unique and differentiated CSR programs.
In 2020, Melco Chairman & CEO Mr. Lawrence Ho deployed the company’s workforce en masse to support the local community during work hours, encouraging all colleagues to care for the community through Simple Acts of Kindness.
Within the first three months, approximately 7,000 Melco volunteer participants were mobilized for Simple Acts of Kindness, contacting over 1,600 organizations, participating in more than 530 activities and supporting more than 100 local NGO community partners and Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Beneficiaries included the elderly, single families, long-term patients, children and other local groups in need.
Melco’s proactive and innovative CSR initiatives, as highlighted by its continued Simple Acts of Kindness initiative, has been recognized by 2020 Industry Community Awards as winner of the ‘Community Award – Asia’. Earlier this month, the company was named ‘Outstanding Corporate for Volunteerism’ for the third consecutive year by Association of Volunteers Social Service Macao.
1,000-strong volunteer elderly visit
In cooperation with Centro de Servicos de Assistencia “Pang On Tung” de Macau, Melco recently mobilized a 1,000-strong volunteer team to visit approximately 550 elderly households in Macau between November 29 to December 13.
Melco initiated the long-term collaboration with Pang On Tung to have volunteers visit elderly households and assist with greeting calls from the NGO’s headquarters. Since May 2020, nearly 2,800 Melco volunteer participants have been deployed, dedicating nearly 6,800 hours to helping Pang On Tung elderlies. Often remaining indoors due to pandemic-related safety measures, the elderly beneficiaries have been excited to meet and chat with Melco’s volunteers who have been bringing gift bags and necessity kits together with warm seasonal greetings.
Warming the community
In late November, nearly 1,000 Melco volunteers joined hands in a scarf knitting project to bring extra warmth to the local community for Christmas. After dedicating more than 8,000 intensive work hours to the project over the course of two weeks, Melco volunteers produced a total of 1,000 hand-knitted scarves. The scarves, together with additional festive gifts, were delivered to 10 local organizations including Concordia School for Special Education, Lar da Nossa Senhora da Misericórdia, Macau Autism Association, Women’s General Association of Macau, Cheng Chong Elderly Building, Macao Center for the Blind, Sheng Kung Hui ‘Star of Hope’ Youth Home, St. Francis Homes for the Elderly and Macau Federation of Trade Unions (FAOM) Ka Ao Nursery Home.
Among the participating volunteers were quite a few complete beginners. Tim Ho, Executive Housekeeper at Altira Macau was one of them, he said, “This was my first ever knitting experience. It was really confusing to start with – and I made so many mistakes. But after the first night, I finally got the hang of things. I hope that the elderly recipients of the scarves can feel my warm season’s blessings despite my amateur knitting!”
Green initiatives
Promoting sustainability also forms part of Melco’s Simple Acts of Kindness initiative. Recently, Melco volunteers cooperated with the Municipal Affairs Bureau to shoulder the task of cleaning local hiking trails and beach barbecue areas, working together to protect the environment and giving back to the community. A total of 130 volunteers took part in four cleaning activities to remove plastics and debris from the areas, jointly contributing to the city’s environmental protection.
Community outreach
From November through January 2022, Melco is expected to deploy 2,500 volunteers to support the work of local social welfare organizations including Pou Tai Integrated Service Centre for the Elderly, Baptista Oi Kwan Service Center of Macau – Harmony Villa, The Association of Rehabilitation of Drug Abusers of Macao, Macau Special Olympics (MSO), FAOM Northern District Integrated Service Center, FAOM Barbosa Community Center, FAOM Mong Ha Elderly Service Center, MSO Complexo De Serviços Ngai Chun and MSO Blissful Center.
Coloring young lives
Melco volunteers also visited Macau Caritas Arco-Iris Youth Home in late November to renovate the house’s murals together with its young residents, adding bright colors to the walls and bringing a new atmosphere. Participating volunteer Wong Ka Lok of Table Games, Studio City, said, “A colorful and uplifting environment may be more meaningful than toy donations for children and young people living in institutions. I had the opportunity to create art murals with the young residents and I could feel their creativity and innovation through the project.”
