PfaP Travelers Provide Plentiful Supplies at Princess Hotels in Mexico
Pack for a Purpose is an organization created in 2009 in North Carolina, USA to help those most in need, providing articles they may need in their daily lives.
This organization has grown thanks to the participation of committed citizens to improve the social environment of communities around the world. However, they’re not the only ones helping others through little actions that can make a significant change for a child or an adult: big touristic organizations, especially hotels, have joined the cause providing a space within their company to participate in such a noble activity, taking advantage of the great flow of tourists that travel to different locations worldwide.
In particular, Princess Hotels & Resorts Riviera Maya, in its Riviera and Sunset locations, has provided a space in each of its main lobbies to place booths dedicated to collecing articles like footwear, clothing, personal hygiene items, school supplies, toys and any article that could benefit the communities.
The collecting process is simple and amazing at the same time: the booths located on one side of the lobbies are used as collectors where our guests (and main pioneers of this activity) place their donations. It is important to mention we have had the joy to count on committed guests that know the program and have donated toys, clothes, shoes, and big numbers of articles that come as great help to our communities.
The donations are brought to the Quality and Development office which is in charge of storing them. They’re sorted according to their classification (so footwear is stored in one site, and clothing in another). Subsequently they’re weighed and the final weight is recorded on a list that is made every month. Once everything has been weighed, packages are made and stored in different boxes according to age and gender so it’s easier to distribute when visiting the community.
The community to where donations are sent is contacted through an internal program of the hotel called “Dame una Mano” (“Give me a Hand”), which contacts the communities or organizations and afterwards bring the donations and spends time with them so it lets us know more about their customs and traditions. The hotel’s only benefit is the community’s joy, to enjoy the laughs and happiness of children when they receive a toy or the grateful faces of the parents when clothes or shoes are offered to them.
Each collaboration from our guests is, without question, the element that makes the difference and our only benefit is the community’s happiness, which is reflected in the photos as evidence to our actions and for Pack for a Purpose.
