(Hong Kong, April 17, 2016) To celebrate the 175th anniversary of AS Watson Group (the “Group”) and to support the Government’s “Appreciate Hong Kong” Campaign, the Group launched a philanthropy programme “Project LOL” (the “Project”). “Elderly Day 2016” (the “Visit”) held today is a large-scale volunteer activity under the Project, a volunteer team consists of over 1,300 volunteers from the Group, our 5 business units and 39 business partners visited more than 1,750 singleton elderly in Hong Kong. We were honoured to have Mr Matthew Cheung, GBS, JP, Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Hong Kong SAR Government to kick-off the visit and cheer for the volunteers.
The Group has a long history of corporate social responsibility. Started as a small dispensary, we provided free medicine to the needy in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong. In the last two years alone, the Group has invested more than $26 million in the areas of education, health and community caring activities. Our contribution to the community has gained widespread recognition. In recent years, we have won the Asia’s Best Employer Brand Award, Distinguished Family-friendly Employer, Social Capital Builder Award, as well as Asia Responsible Entrepreneurship Award 2015 – Social Empowerment. We also strongly encourage colleagues to participate in community caring activities, which our corporate volunteer team was established in 2005 and so far we have served over 140,000 beneficiaries and accumulated more than 30,000 volunteer service hours.
Mr Dominic Lai, Group Managing Director of AS Watson at the kick-off ceremony said, “our philanthropy programme – Project LOL focuses in 3 areas namely health, education and community. Not only do we wish to bring “Lots of Love” and “Lots of Laughs” to the people of Hong Kong, but also we would like to encourage them to show appreciation to each other and to inject more positive energy into the community to help make Hong Kong a better place.”
With generous support from Hong Kong Young Women’s Christian Association, over 1,300 volunteers from the Group, our business units and business partners visited and gave goodie bags to 1,750 singleton elderly in Hong Kong, to spread the spirit of love and care in the society.
Mr. Dominic Lai added, “we hope to help drive corporate social responsibility among the commercial sector through inviting our business partners to join the visit to spread the love and care to the community.”
The Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, praised AS Watson Group for being the role model of corporate citizens. “The underlying meaning of Project LOL is to bring ‘Lots of Love’ and ‘Lots of Laughs’ to the people of Hong Kong. It shows that the Group, as an international renowned brand, not only keeps abreast of time in its development, but also provides support for the disadvantaged in our society. This coincides with the objective of the ‘Appreciate Hong Kong’ campaign launched by the Government,” he said.
“The Government attaches great importance to the welfare need of the elderly. Shortly after assuming office, the current-term Government introduced the Old Age Living Allowance, which has benefited about 430,000 elderly people, or about 40 per cent of the elderly population,” Mr Cheung added.
Project LOL has been extended to the Group’s 25 operating markets, spreading the laughs and bringing positive changes to local communities and people there. In response to the Project, business units in different operating markets under the Group also carried out various corporate social responsibilities programmes. Please visit http://projectlol.aswatson.com/ for more details.
ASW collaborate with popular local YouTuber FH Media (熊仔頭) to produce a viral video to share useful tips on communicating with the elderly, and to spread the message of caring community in a fun and engaging way. Project LOL youtube video- https://goo.gl/gZrbUo
Meanwhile, a web game called “We Smile” is also launched to engage the general public in Hong Kong, and to inject positive energy to the community. Public can upload their photos with happy faces to the website to rate their smiles, while sharing their happiness with family members and friends: projectlol.aswatson.com/wesmile
