CASE STUDY: Rezidor's Box Appeal to help labourers
What is The Box Appeal?
The Box Appeal is an annual charity campaign run by Radisson Blu and Park Inn Hotels in the Middle East. The campaign asks the community to fill boxes with a list of everyday items; the boxes are then collected and distributed to various labour camps by hotel staff.
The Box Appeal was originally created by the Radisson Blu Hotel in Media City but the appeal has become more and more successful each year. 2012 will be the 5th year the campaign has run. All nine Radisson Blu and Park Inn hotels in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi Yas Island and Fujairah take part as well as Radisson Blu Hotels in Cairo and Bahrain.
The Box Appeal coincides with Carlson Rezidor’s annual Responsible Business Action Month, which takes place every September. RBAM is a whole month dedicated to various community and environmental activities from cleaning beaches to blood donation camps.
How many boxes were collected in 2011?
Just over 10,000 boxes were collected last year, which equates to AED 2 million in donations. This means we helped 10,000 labourers here in the UAE in Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi. In addition we collected over 3,000 boxes in our other locations in the Middle East, Radisson Blu’s and Park Inn’s in Cairo, Bahrain and Muscat.
What’s the goal for 2012?
After feedback from the 2011 campaign we decided to move the campaign back into September ending on the 31st October. We did this because schools are traditionally our largest donators so we wanted to make sure that the city was full again and everyone was back in school. Because of this change, here in the UAE, we’re hoping to collect more boxes than ever before; if we collect over 10,000 we’ll be very happy. We’re very lucky to have the support of Radio 1 and 2 again, this year they’ve also donated airtime on two other radios stations Josh 97.8 and Hayat FM, so we’ll be reaching an even wider audience as these stations are aimed at Indian and Arabic speakers. We’re hoping that all of Dubai’s residents will come together to help people less fortunate themselves.
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How many people at Rezidor get involved?
1000’s across the region. All staff in the hotels get involved. It’s a huge operation, many donate time to fill boxes during their weekend, the logistics of delivering and picking up boxes alone is a huge job. Last year staff went to companies and even people’s houses to pick up boxes when they weren’t able to drop them off themselves. There’s not a single member of staff who doesn’t get involved, even if it’s just taking their children to the supermarket to fill their own boxes. A project this big couldn’t work without every single person’s hard work and dedication.
How can other people support this initiative?
All people have to do is pick up a box from any Radisson Blu or Park Inn hotel in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Fujairah, Cairo or Bahrain, fill it with the list of items and return it. We can provide as many boxes as you require, so it’s a great CSR initiatives for companies to get involved in. At the end of the campaign we will deliver the boxes to labourers. Visit www.facebook.com/theboxappeal for more info and to get involved, we want your pictures of you collecting boxes. As we say....Small Box. Big Difference!!!