Outrigger Fiji walk
Peter Hopgood (right) and staff are on the walk

Outrigger Fiji Beach Resort’s General Manager, Peter Hopgood, writes exclusively for HM about how the resort’s staff are walking over 20km to help kids in the nation affected by Tropical Cyclone Winston.

As you are all aware, the first quarter of 2016 has been tough in Fiji.

The tourism industry suffered the devastation of Tropical Cyclone Winston in February and then only a few weeks ago, Tropical Cyclone Zena passed through the islands.

The Fijian people are nothing if not resilient and are possessed of an enormous strength of spirit.

They do, however, need our help and as part of our commitment to support the community of which we are very much a part, on April 30 we will stage the Outrigger Walk For Kids Walkathon.

Every dollar raised by those taking part in the 10.5km walk from Outrigger Fiji Beach Resort to the Sigatoka Special School will go towards building a trade training workshop at the school as well as helping children whose lives have been affected by the cyclones.

We believe that the training workshop that we will build and the tools which will be provided will allow children attending the school to learn trade skills which one day will assist them in finding employment.

If enough people sponsor me, I will walk not only from the resort to the school but back to the resort, a distance of 21.5km.

Outrigger Fiji Beach Resort has already raised over FJD$7,500 to help cyclone victims and Outrigger Enterprises Group has donated a further FJD$20,000 to the Fijian government’s cyclone relief appeal.

We have also been providing support to the village of Malakain in the north of Vitu Levu where cyclone Winston hit hardest and which is home to a number of our staff.

We have held a major clothing and material collection among our resort staff and they will be heading up to the village on Saturday to present these contributions.

I would like to thank all of those people who have already donated to our Cyclone Appeal.

Should anyone be kind enough to sponsor me in the Walkathon, I have provided the details of our Australian Bank Account, managed by our Chief Financial Officer in Australia.

Can I ask that you note “Sigatoka Special School Walkathon” in the description.

The details are Suncorp Bank, Gold Coast Business Banking Centre, Bundall Road, Gold Coast 4217. BSB 484-799, Account number 123697339 and the name of account is OH Sydney Pty Ltd (Outrigger Fiji Beach Resort).

If payments are being made from outside Australia, the SWIFT CODE is METWAU4B

On the Coral Coast where Outrigger Fiji Beach Resort is located we were fortunate in not being impacted by either cyclone and the resort is running at 100 per cent capacity.

However when people ask me what can they do to assist, the answer is simple – book your next holiday at one of the resorts in Fiji, preferably Outrigger Fiji Beach Resort or our sister property Castaway Island.

This creates employment for the Fijians and also has enormous benefits for the economy.

James Wilkinson

Editor-In-Chief, Hotel Management