NWDS has been actively involved in social welfare activities and has participated in a large number of charitable events taking place in Mainland China and Hong Kong. The Group’s effort has been widely endorsed by our customers and the public, and was repeatedly awarded the “Caring Company” logo.
In April 2015, stores in the South Eastern China Region initiated the “Love Makes the Sky Blue” campaign to call for donations from employees and customers. Hong Kong New World Department Store - Shanghai Chengshan Branch Store even went for an extra mile to display autism children’s paintings in store and made them into postcards for charity sale to raise more funds. Wuhan New World Department Store - Hanyang Branch Store has launched the “Caring for Autism Children” activity to promote autism related knowledge, and enhance society’s awareness on patients suffering from autism.
NWDS has cooperated with about 26 non-profit organizations all over the country to hold a nationwide hula hoop themed Christmas party, “Merry Hula Hooping Christmas”, in 2014. More than 260 volunteers from all stores participated in the event, contributing over 660 service hours and benefiting over 860 children. The event is an extension of the “Sports” portion of the “@Dream Sustainable Development Program” and aims to craft a merry and warm Christmas for under-resourced children and enhance their physical fitness through interesting sports activities.
Adhering to the spirit of “giving back to society”, NWDS firstly title-sponsors the “NWDS Sowers Action Challenging 12 Hours Charity Marathon 2014”. Entering its 16th year, the marathon has recruited over 2,220 runners to challenge the Wilson Trail and the MacLehose Trail, and raised a record-breaking HKD2.7 million for under-resourced high school students in Mainland China. NWDS supports the marathon in the form of running in the marathon, rendering voluntary services, and making a donation of HKD0.45 million in total. NWDS especially organized the “Half-Hour Parent-Child Sowers Action Hunt Challenge” at all stores on the same day of the marathon to recreate its excitement for Mainland customers. Making use of Weibo, WeChat, physical stores and other online and offline platforms for promotions, over 450 family teams of approximately 1,000 people were recruited.
In September 2014, NWDS held @Dream Sustainable Development Program’s annual performance at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, with the participation of over 700 teachers, students and representatives from different community groups to witness the students’ achievements over the past year. The “@Dream Sustainable Development Program” received country-wide recognition and the highlights of the annual performance were featured on the news channel of Shanghai Television and Fengxian Television unprecedentedly, generating a total of 117 news reports.
NWDS sets the month of June as the “Volunteer Month” to further promote the significance of volunteer service. In the first “Volunteer Month”, NWDS responded to the Chinese traditional Dragon Boat Festival and worked with 25 non-profit associations, including Wuhan Huapolu Primary School, Xi'an Huiling Community Services for People with Intellectual Disabilities, Xinyun Children’s Rehabilitation Center and the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups, to hold a volunteer activity with the theme of “New World •Watch Me Play in the Dragon Boat Race” simultaneously across the country in June 2014. The activity received huge support from employees in China and Hong Kong. As many as 340 volunteers replicated the classic “dragon boat racing” game with about 900 under-resourced children across the country, contributing about 960 service hours in total.