Underprivileged families to get some respite

MEDIA RELEASE

For immediate release

— Wellington, Thursday 30 June 2011.

Underprivileged families to get some respite.

The InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG) will begin fundraising tomorrow for a joint Salvation Army and IHG programme that provides holidays for families suffering dire material hardship.

Last year, Give a Family a Break sent 30 disadvantaged families on holiday to various locations around New Zealand. The packages included accommodation, travel, food hampers and tickets to local attractions. Families are clients of Salvation Army welfare centres and selection is based on their need and family circumstances.

Salvation Army Public Relations Secretary Major Robbie Ross says Give a Family a Break provides many families with quality time away from their day-to-day struggles – a luxury most of us take for granted. “For families whose days are consumed by trying to make ends meet, these breaks are very therapeutic,” he says.

One mother, Katrina, took her two children on holiday last year thanks to the programme. “I couldn’t have asked for a better way to spend a couple of days with my kids.”

The holidays are taken over the Christmas and New Year period.

Last year, the programme was funded with $26,000 raised by IHG staff at the company’s InterContinental, Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn hotels. This year, the fund raising target is $20,000 as IHG’s Christchurch hotels will not participate due to damage in the February earthquake.

IHG staff will fund the holiday programme by running sausage sizzles, dinners with the company’s leading chefs showcasing their cuisine and online auctions for holiday packages. The fundraising projects will be at the company’s Auckland, Wellington, Rotorua and Queenstown hotels. Coin donation boxes will be located at these sites.

‘We believe that being a part of the travel industry makes this programme our privilege,’ says Geoff Naumann, IHG’s Wellington-based Director of Sales and Marketing. ‘We were so pleased with the efforts the staff and public made last year, and look forward to great results again this year.’

Fundraising for Give a Family a Break runs from July 1 to October 31.

ENDS

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