[Cape Town, 8 May 2004]  The leading hospitality and real estate development group Arabella South Africa (ASA) has launched an initiative in the Western Cape aimed at raising funds to help combat the spread of HIV and Aids and to support children affected with the virus.

 
The programme, "Check Out for HOPE", forms a new element of ASA's Corporate Citizenship Programme and entails collecting contributions from guests staying at either of Arabella South Africa’s hotels to fund an Aids educational and support initiative underway in the Western Cape called Project HOPE (HIV Outreach Programme and Education).

 
Guests checking in to either the Arabella Sheraton Grand Hotel Cape Town or the Western Cape Hotel & Spa near Hermanus will be informed of the programme and offered the opportunity to contribute the equivalent of US$1 to the project when they check out.  The programme is styled along the lines of the international UNICEF project "Check Out for Children" embraced by Arabella’s international alliance partner, Starwood Hotels and Resorts.  Under this project, US1$ is added to guests bills with their consent and sent to UNICEF for worldwide distribution.

 
Speaking at Project HOPE’s annual fundraising event, the Ball of HOPE, held at the ArabellaSheraton Grand Hotel Cape Town on Saturday night, ASA CEO Stefan Braun said guests staying at the South African properties would also have a choice as to whether or not they wanted to make a contribution to the new "Check Out for HOPE" project. He said that the combined small contribution from each guest would go a long way towards fighting Aids locally and supporting children affected with the virus.

 
"Through this initiative, guests can make a small contribution to fighting this pandemic in South Africa, knowing that communities in the immediate vicinity of the hotel in which they have stayed will benefit directly.  Through Check Out for HOPE and other contributions, we hope to raise more than R1-million a year to local projects fighting this disease," he said.

 
Braun said ASA had identified Project HOPE as a worthy charity four years ago as it attended to the greatest needs of the people in the areas in which ASA conduct their business.  ASA currently sponsors one of Project HOPE's health community workers at Mfuleni in Cape Town.  Funds raised from "Check Out for HOPE" will provide additional support to this sponsorship, it will finance another community health worker in the Hermanus/Overberg area near to the Western Cape Hotel & Spa, it will support Project Hope's Day Clinics and will also part sponsor medical personnel at these clinics.

 
Project Hope was formed in 2001 as a joint venture between Tygerberg Children's Hospital, the University of Stellenbosch Health Sciences Department, the German-speaking Catholic Community and the Rotary Club of Signal Hill.  Arabella South Africa is the patron of Project HOPE.

Since 2001, the project has developed from a volunteer organisation to one that employs five community health workers, a co-ordinator, a part-time doctor and a part time pharmacist.  It operates in the Tygerberg Academic Children's Hospital as well as day clinics in the communities of Delft, Mfuleni, Elsiesriver, Wallacedene and Paarl.

 
The project's next focus area is Hermanus, and it aims to be covering 18 sites in the Western Cape within the next three years.

Project HOPE's achievements to date include:

• The establishment of the Ithemba ward at Tygerberg's Children's Hospital which comprises 24 beds and is the hospital's core HIV/Aids-related care programme
• Interacting with over 100 000 patients per year through family clinics
• the sponsorship of ARV treatment
• Aids education workshops
• Referral and networking programmes in communities served
• Various smaller projects such as soup kitchens and vegetable gardens for the poor

Project HOPE's Chairman, Father Stefan Hippler warmly welcomed the "Check Out for Hope" initiative and said the partnership with ASA would help bring some relief to Western Cape communities affected by HIV and Aids.  He encouraged other businesses to follow ASA's support for Aids education and patient care.

 
ASA's existing Corporate Citizenship Programme includes the Arabella Centre of Excellence  which provides educational and training programmes in the hospitality industry for youth, particularly those unemployed and previously disadvantaged. Braun said three percent of the payroll from each of ASA's business unites were committed to this programme.

 
ASA also implements the Arabella Golf Development Programme and is involved in projects at various schools near the Arabella Country Estate which include converting parts of school grounds into profitable vegetable producing businesses that supply the Western Cape Hotel & Spa.

ENDS

 
For further information, please contact Wendy Masters on 021-412-9010 / 083-501-5001