2023 Jan 12
The Kingsbury Colombo distributed 25,000 books to over 2,500 children from 25 deserving schools (one school from each district), at an official ceremony which was held at The Kingsbury Hotel with the presence of Mohan Pandithage, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer for Hayleys PLC and Rohan Karr, Managing Director for Hayleys Leisure on 3 January 2023.
Principals of these selected schools from all districts attended the event, with some arriving the day before and most on the day, where the hotel provided accommodation and meals to all. The event commenced with a multi-religious blessing, followed by refreshments and lunch.
‘The Carriage of Hope’ project which was launched on 27 November 2022, was a CSR initiative centered around the state-of-the-art Christmas horse carriage, designed and assembled by the Engineering Team at The Kingsbury and displayed within the hotel premises during the festive season.
All guests and visitors were encouraged to take a picture with the Carriage of Hope and share it on their social media platforms, tagging the hotel, in order to contribute towards this initiative of donating 25,000 books to 2,500 children from 25 chosen schools. 1 tag was equivalent to one book and those who wished to purchase a bundle of books to support a child (or more) were able to do so at the hotel lobby and via the Kingsbury Indulgence website.
In addition to this, the hotel employees as well as employees from Hayleys Leisure and Hayleys PLC, also joined hands to contribute and purchase sets of books towards this meritorious project.
“During these trying times, we wanted to celebrate the season by supporting students from across the country with their education. The Carriage of Hope project was conducted not only to support 2,500 children but also to spread awareness on the rise in prices of educational supplies so that many would be encouraged to help children in need”, shared Mr Karr while addressing the audience.
Due to the overwhelming response from guests and the general public, the target number of 25,000 was achieved on 27 December 2022, 4 days prior to the set end date of the project.
“On behalf of all the principals present, I would like to thank The Kingsbury Hotel for this generous donation which will certainly help our students this year”, stated one of the Principals, participating in the ceremony. The Kingsbury Hotel will continue helping and assisting these students throughout the year based on their requirements in the future.
