Sands China Ltd. considers its support to the valuable groups of the community in the Macau SAR central to its commitment toward social causes and community involvement.
The gaming operator’s Sands Cares Ambassadors (SCAs) did not fall short of extending their helping hand to extend its warmth and care to the vulnerable and less-advantaged groups in the Macao community amid the outbreak of the Covid-19 novel coronavirus.
The SCAs actively volunteered during these hard times of pandemic crisis that the city is experiencing, visiting a series of elderly centers and delivering necessities to different organizations.
Through these voluntary works, these ambassadors are given an outlet for serving the local community by organizing community activities and initiatives that work toward creating a better Macau.
Amid the virus outbreak, a group of SCAs went to the Peng On Tung service center to make follow-up calls to the 150 elderly residents they had visited just before the Chinese New Year to check on them during the challenging time.
The volunteers noted down the live-alone elderlies’ health conditions and checked if they needed any special assistance for the centre to follow up.
While there, they also took the opportunity to learn more about the daily operations and volunteering needs of the service, and to provide manpower support to the centre during the epidemic.
The SCAs’ courageous visit did not stop there as the volunteers continued to extend its moral support to local communities as they helped drop off 10,000 pairs of medical gloves and 1,000 shower caps at the Ka Ho Elderly Care Centre.
The visit was to address the material shortage of supplies the nurses require for taking daily care of the elderly.
The next day, they took 1,000 bottles of hand sanitizer each to the Rehabilitation Centre for the Blind, the Macau Deaf Association, and the Macau Autism Association, to express care for those vulnerable segments of society and support their needs amid the fight against the epidemic.
More than 1,200 members and their families will benefit from the supplies donated during the two-day activity.
Furthermore, just recently, the Sands Cares Ambassadors helped deliver 1,800 bottles of hand sanitizer, 20,000 pairs of medical gloves, and 1,000 shower caps for distribution among four local non-governmental organizations.
These NGOs include Macau Special Olympics, the Sheng Kung Hui Social Service Coordination Office, the Macau Gaming Industry Employees Home, and Christian New Life Fellowship.
The deliveries of supplies have benefited over 5,000 of the organisations’ members.
Some of the supplies will go directly to the organisations’ service users, most of whom are low-income or have special needs. The rest will address the NGOs’ operational needs, as they prepare to reopen and resume their services, with staff needing access to the hygiene supplies in order to safely perform their work.
“Sands China considers it our company’s responsibility to assist the Macao community in times of need,” said Dr. Wilfred Wong, president of Sands China Ltd.
“During this time of vigilance against the spread of the coronavirus, we are pleased to take this opportunity to extend our goodwill to the community and support Macao’s coronavirus relief efforts,” the executive further noted.
The executive hopes that the donation of medical supplies can help support the needs of community groups in enhancing hygiene at their centres and at their members’ homes.
“Our gratitude goes out to the Sands Cares Ambassadors for their eager participation in this important community initiative,” Dr. Wong added.
Meanwhile, aside from the series of donations that the gaming operator had conducted, heeding to the government’s call of supporting associations and private firms in times of crisis, the large-scale international company continues its donation of MOP 300,000 for Macau Holy House of Mercy’s Welfare Shop.
This is to support the distribution of over 360 food hampers to disadvantaged families. It is the company’s eighth straight year supporting the shop’s food hamper distribution.
The hampers contain staple items like rice, noodles, biscuits, canned food, cooking oil, toothpaste, shower gel and others.
Sands China has been a major sponsor of the programme since 2013, and has donated MOP 2.3 million to date, including this year’s donation of MOP 300,000.
The Welfare Shop making special arrangements to distribute the food hampers accordingly in compliance with the Macao’s government’s appeal to avoid gathering in large groups.
“Each year, Sands China considers it our privilege and responsibility to show goodwill to the community, including by supporting low-income families through this annual volunteer activity with Macau Holy House of Mercy’s Welfare Shop,” said Dr Wong.
“And even though the current coronavirus situation meant that we couldn’t be as hands-on as we always like to be, we are glad to have still been able to express our commitment to helping families in financial need through our support of the Welfare Shop.”
Sands China Ltd. has pledged to continually support these associations to a bid to raise the profile of local charitable organisations and their events, which in turn could increase the number of residents to have the opportunity to offer a helping hand.”
Sands China’s community work is part of Sands Cares, the global corporate citizenship programme of parent company Las Vegas Sands Corp.
Sands Cares integrates the company’s philanthropic work worldwide in four key areas: financial giving, community problem solving and collaboration, in-kind donations, and team member volunteerism.
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