By Zsarlene B. Chua
AFTER several years of raising the needed funds, The Peninsula Manila, together with Estee Lauder Companies, has completed the rehabilitation of the Breast Care Center of the East Avenue Medical Center in Quezon City.
It was four years in the making, but nine months after a charity auction which raised around P7 million, the rehabilitation has been completed. Now, the Breast Care Center has an expanded reception area, a new wing, and a second floor which will house 20 brand-new chemotherapy chairs, supplementing the two La-Z Boy recliners the center currently has. Operated by the Philippine Foundation for Breast Care, Inc., the breast care center typically serves 30 to 50 patients a day.
“What’s special here… is you know where exactly where your funds are going. There’s something tangible… that’s a very powerful, lasting impression,” said Mark Choon, the hotel’s general manager, during the opening of the center on Oct. 5.
All in all, according to a company press release, the hotel and its partner company raised around P13 million over the four-year fund-raising project.
Aside from the two companies (The Peninsula and Estee Lauder), the Pink For Life Foundation, Inc., “donated a sizable amount last year has helped buy the first batch of chemotherapy infusion chairs,” according to the press release.
The first batch consists of five chairs with 15 more set to arrive within the month.
FUND-RAISING CONTINUES
Now on it’s sixth year, the Peninsula in Pink campaign — which serves to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer charities — tapped China’s “most celebrated avant-garde photographer and multimedia artist,” Chen Man, whose works are will be exhibited in all 10 Peninsula hotels around the world for the whole of October.
The 10 photographic art pieces donated by the artist, collectively known as Nao Nao, will be installed in all the hotels under the Peninsula brand.
“With this collection, I wished to celebrate the distinctive interpretations of beauty and power, while at the same time evoking dialogue about a subject that is often deemed taboo,” Ms. Man said in a press release.
Each of the photographs — done in Ms. Man’s signature sensual style — will be covered in two pink dots symbolizing the colon and the breasts. Guests at the hotels can purchase bamboo nao nao sticks for P300 with which to scratch at the two dots and reveal the photographs underneath.
Four of her photographs will be exhibited at the lobby of the Peninsula Manila and will be available for auction online from Oct. 17-31 at paddle8/PeninPink. Bids will start at P150,000 or $3,000.
Proceeds from both the auction, the sale of the nao nao sticks, and other Pen in Pink promotions, will be donated to the Philippine Foundation for Breast Care, Inc.
For more information, visit www.peninsula.com/pink.
