As part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, Shangri-La’s Rasa Sayang Resort & Spa, Penang and its sister property, Golden Sands Resort, Penang by Shangri-La, have been providing more than a million ringgit worth of aid to the poor through its Embrace, Shangri-La’s Care for People project.
For many years, both hotels have sponsored many less-fortunate children in Penang, Butterworth and as far as Kedah and Perlis.
Through these projects, the resorts provide urgent life-saving medical treatments and enhance the quality of life of beneficiaries by sponsoring artificial limbs.
In 2019 alone, Rasa Sayang Resort & Spa, Penang sponsored a total of RM175,764 for the heart surgeries of three toddlers born with congenital heart defects.
Among the three cases, two were repeat beneficiaries in 2017.
Both Muhammad Zaneeq Qismil and Muhammad Aqif required definitive repair of Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF).
They are three and four years old respectively. Under the ‘Embrace Gift of Limb’ project.
Meanwhile, Golden Sands Resort, Penang sponsored RM102,390 worth of artificial limbs for 32 recipients aged 4 to 19 years old in 2019.
Prosthetic legs, arms and hands enable recipients to live normal lives without physical limitations.
“The project under Shangri-La’s Embrace programme is specially for the benefit of poor families with below average income levels regardless of ethnicity and creed, with children in need of corrective surgery so that they have a new a lease of life and also for children who need prosthetics or artificial limbs so that they may go on living normal lives without physical limitations.
“As most of you are aware of, the cost of corrective surgeries especially complex heart surgery and also artificial limbs can be significant. This is where Shangri-La’s properties play their role as responsible corporate citizens toward fulfilling the need for life enhancing interventions,” said Elaine Yue general manager of Rasa Sayang Resort & Spa and Golden Sands resort.
The youngest Gift of Limb beneficiary is Muhammad Fadhilah Azrul Amry, who was diagnosed with congenital amniotic band syndrome, which caused him disabled from below knee on the right leg.
He received a tailor-made extension right transtibial prosthesis for the second time since 2017.
Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts remains committed to operating in an economically, socially and environmentally responsible manner whilst balancing the interests of diverse stakeholders.
In striving to be a leader in corporate citizenship and sustainable development, a corporate-level CSR Committee drives the company’s initiatives in the strategic areas of stakeholder relations, environment, health and safety, supply chain and employees.
These focus areas are unified under the umbrella brand of “Sustainability”, together with Shangri-La’s core CSR projects “Embrace” and “Sanctuary”. Hotel-level Embrace programmes focus on Shangri-La’s Care for People Project, which aims to promote the highest level of education and health support in underprivileged communities.
Sanctuary programmes concentrate on Shangri-La’s Care for Nature Project, which promotes the conservation and restoration of biodiversity.
Also present at the event was Golden Sands resident manager Christoph Duker and Katie Roberts, director of marketing..