On October 18, representatives from Marriott and the Yao Foundation visited the Marriott Yao Foundation Hope School at Qinyuan, Shanxi province.
Wangtao Hope Primary School is the fourth Hope School created by Marriott International in support of the Yao Foundation. This project was completed in April 2018, the financial and material support provided by Marriott International benefits 432 students and 47 teachers and creates better educational experiences for them.
During the visit, representatives from Marriott and the Yao Foundation sent school bags to the students as gifts and visited the new multimedia classroom, music classroom, technology classroom, painting classroom and special children's classroom. After that, representatives and students worked together to plant the ‘tree of hope’ on campus then had basketball class together on the playground. Ye Li, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Yao Foundation, shared his basketball knowledge and shooting skills with students.
Present at the visit were Regan Taikitsadaporn, Chief Human Resources Officer of Marriott International, Asia Pacific; Angela Pan, Guidance Team Member of Marriott Worldwide Business Council, Greater China; Ye Li, Chairman Board of Directors of Yao Foundation; Minhui Feng, Science Department Director, China Youth Development Foundation, as well as seven representatives and 15 Marriott volunteers.
Regan Taikitsadaporn, Chief Human Resources Officer of Marriott International, Asia Pacific said: “Marriott International has a heritage of putting people first and is committed to giving back to the communities we serve. One of the ways we make this happen is through supporting and investing in education, especially for the younger generation. With better education, we believe that they will be able to improve the livelihood for themselves, their families and communities in which they live in. Marriott International shares Yao Ming’s vision to improve the educational experiences of Chinese youth, and are committed to create opportunities for children in rural China together with the Yao Foundation. I believe every child growing up here has a dream. From their smiles, laughter and energy, I can feel their passion, courage and eagerness to learn. Through this new facility, we hope to give them a safe and motivating platform to fulfill their dreams.”
At the end of this visit, Regan Taikitsadaporn and Ye Li awarded certificates to 15 volunteers. All volunteers are Marriott associates from different cities around China. They prepared this activity with passion and love, and spent four meaningful days with students. In addition, volunteers and students painted a ‘wall of dreams’ together to inspire these students to embrace hope and make efforts to acheive the dream.
Marriott International and the Yao Foundation established their partnership in 2013 with the aim of improving educational development in rural areas of China. As of 2017, Marriott International raised over RMB14 million for the Yao Foundation, finished the construction of four Hope schools and supported four years of the ‘Yao Foundation Hope School Basketball Season.’ Marriott International and the Yao Foundation will continue to support the younger generation in rural China.
[Cover image via Marriot]
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