MCLEAN, Va. - Hilton Worldwide (NYSE: HLT) recently celebrated Global Week of Service, the company's worldwide annual volunteer event. Now in its third year, the company's largest expression of community service included more than 3,500 projects designed to address the social, economic and environmental needs in 86 countries.
Global Week of Service provides Team Members and franchise partners with the opportunity to showcase the company's culture of service and community hospitality. This year's theme focused on two company commitments - youth opportunity and living sustainably. More than 1,100 properties and corporate offices in more than more than 900 cities around the world completed a wide array of projects, including resume building workshops with underserved young people, soap recycling, refurbishment of schools and community centers, park and seabed clean-ups and the creation of social enterprises.
"Service is at the heart of our organization, and every day our Team Members and franchise partners devote countless resources to strengthen our global communities," said Christopher J. Nassetta, president and CEO, Hilton Worldwide. "Whether it's teaching young people about careers in hospitality, sharing customer service skills with community organizations or preserving the natural habitats surrounding our hotel communities, volunteerism gives us the opportunity to enrich the lives of others while also developing our teams and creating a vibrant culture."
Hilton's Global Week of Service supported more than 3,200 volunteer projects representing more than 150,000 hours of service in 2012 and 2013 combined. Other annual initiatives include the Living Sustainably Campaign, EarthHour, Careers@HiltonLive and Nelson Mandela Day. Throughout the year, Team Members and franchise partners participate in a full spectrum of community engagement initiatives in the 93 countries Hilton Worldwide hotels serve.
Throughout Global Week of Service, Hilton worked with an international network of community-based organizations, including FareShare, Feeding America, Global Soap Project, Hilton in the Community Foundation, Playground of Hope, Points of Light, Room to Read, SOS Children's Villages and Stop Hunger Now in addition to more than 2,800 local organizations selected by hotels and offices.
Around the world, Global Week of Service projects included:
Americas
- In the United States, Team Members from the company's Embassy Suites brand sponsored seven projects with 42 participating hotels and 210 volunteers, including resume review and interview skills sessions for young people and job seekers. And in San Francisco over 200 volunteers celebrated Hilton San Francisco's 50th anniversary in true service spirit by assembling more than 24,800 meals.
- In Mexico, 50 Doubletree by Hilton volunteers spent 350 hours repairing rooftops, installing a playground and conducting workshops for children and their caretakers at SOS Children's Villages (Aldeas Infantiles SOS) in Mexico City.
- In Costa Rica, Hilton Garden Inn volunteers created a hydroponic garden for students at Los Lagos Elementary School in Liberia, Costa Rica.
Europe, Middle East & Africa
- In the United Kingdom, more than 110 volunteers donated 880 hours to create a sensory garden and transform the grounds of the Woodfield School in London, which educates individuals ages 11-19 with a wide range of challenges, including Autism and learning disabilities.
- 370 volunteers from 14 Hilton Worldwide properties across the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Oman collaborated with the diving organization PADI, environmental agencies, tour operators and residents to organize underwater, beach, desert, park and mountain clean-ups across the Arabian Peninsula. Together, the teams collected more than two tons of debris.
- In Egypt, over 50 volunteers from Hilton's Cairo properties and corporate office contributed 700 volunteering hours to launch a soap recycling venture with Ana El Masri, a social enterprise that supports, educates and empowers children at risk.
Asia Pacific
- Volunteers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia educated young people and the public on the importance of water conservation and stewardship in partnership with Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn. Bhd. (SYABAS), the company responsible for local water supply and distribution.
- In Beijing, China, volunteers partnered with the Zhe Jiang Xin Hua Compassion Education Foundation to host 50 underserved college students for a tour of Hilton Beijing Wangfujing, introducing them to the opportunities within the hospitality industry and internships at the hotel.
- Volunteers from the Conrad Seoul in Seoul, Korea worked alongside 50 students to clean up a local river and nearby Yeouido Park, and more than 100 volunteers from a variety of Hilton Worldwide properties across India cared for hundreds of plants and developed a leaf composting system at a Bio-Diversity Park in Gurgaon, India.
