16th February 2012
As seen in the TRBusiness News
Dubai donates $500,000 to Hand in Hand for Haiti
Dubai Duty Free (DDF) Managing Director George Horan announced today that the leading duty free retail operation is donating $500,000 to the Hand in Hand for Haiti charity that is running the Lycée Jean-Baptiste Pointe du Sable school, which opened to 153 children on October 3, 2011.
Horan said that many within DDF had been very touched by the efforts of the travel retail industry, the charity initiative's founders and figureheads, Ed Brennan (DFS Group), Olivier Bottrie (Estée Lauder) and Martin Moodie (The Moodie Report) and most of all the plight of the children following the devastating earthquake in Haiti. Following its donation, DDF will have the sports complex named after it which will consist of a full-size soccer pitch and an athletics track - both of which are being constructed right next to the school. The announcement was made at today's Trinity Forum 2012 event in Seoul, where Martin Moodie said that this school now represents the biggest investment made on any such facility for 30 years in Haiti. He said that the travel retail industry also has a responsibility now, since it hasn't just agreed to build the school and fund the start up. This investment is forever, he said, pointing out that many further initiatives will be required to continue funding the school.
