Muy ‘Ono Resorts Celebrate $1 Million in Donations

Today, eight resorts under the Muy ‘Ono brand celebrated a remarkable milestone: their first million-dollar philanthropic achievement. Since 2018, these resorts have been committed to giving back, except for 2020 when the pandemic halted global economic activities. With today’s donations to those in need, they have collectively donated the funds to the community.  The celebration took place at LifeNet Belize, a church-based organization in Belmopan. News Five’s Marion Ali was there to capture the moment and brings us this report.

 

Pastor Paul Cassanova, Manager, King’s Children’s Home

“Whoever came up with the idea, I believe is inspired. It gives us the notion that all the tourism industry is doing is not only for those at the top, but we get the crumbs, and the crumbs taste nice.”

 

Marion Ali, Reporting

The crumbs that Pastor Paul Cassanova speaks of are those that eight resorts in Belize have been giving out to needy institutions since 2018. The beneficiaries include homes for children and the elderly.

 

Reynaldo Malik, Chief Operating Officer of Muy ‘Ono Resorts

“The leadership at Muy ‘Ono, we don’t participate in selecting those. The selections are made by the employees at our individual resorts. So you will see, if you notice the recipients here today, that they’ve came from a wide variety of locations: Dangriga, further south, Cayo, Belmopan, Cotton Tree, et cetera. And that’s because the recipients being selected by the employees, represent where the employees actually live, not necessarily where the resort is located.”

 

Today, several institutions once again benefited from the generosity of Muy ‘Ono’s philanthropic efforts, as shared by the brand’s Chief Operating Officer, Reynaldo Malik. Among the recipients, King’s Children’s Home received a generous donation of fifteen hundred dollars from one of the resorts. Pastor Cassanova expressed that this contribution will significantly support the home’s needs.

 

Pastor Paul Cassanova

“I’m especially impressed with the fact that they have a program where it’s philanthropic and we are able to be beneficiaries of it. It’s unlike anything else I’ve seen within the business community. I think the way they have it set up speaks volume to the heart and the mind they have to reach out to the community and serve the community. We do really appreciate it.”

 

According to Malik, had COVID not interrupted the workflow in 2020, this million-dollar milestone would have been long realized. But the pledge continues.

 

Reynaldo Malik

“We would have certainly gotten past one million last year. As a matter of fact, I mean, we were on track in coming off 2019. That was then the very best year for tourism, and we were on track toe. Enjoy a tremendous year as an industry and not more, you know, as well for 2020. But unfortunately, what happened happened, and it set us back on. But we’re glad that we’ve no made it. 1 million mark and to your point, we’re hoping that we’ll be able to get the two million faster than we got to 1 million.”

 

Malik explained that the donations come from a portion of the profits made from booking as well as from patrons.

 

Reynaldo Malik

“The moment you book a room at one of our resorts, we donate an automatic amount out of that. So, the amount varies by resort because all, some of our resorts are different sizes than the others. So, for instance, at Hopkins Bay, that amount is a dollar U.S. per night. So if you book, you went and stayed there for five nights, we would donate five U.S., we put five U. S. away. When you’re checking out, we hope that you enjoyed your stay with us and we ask you to match that 5. We generally get about forty percent of our guests to participate in the program. So of the one million dollars donated, if you want to do the math, we’ve contributed about seven hundred thousand ourselves and the other 300, 000 came from guests putting some funds into the kitty, so to speak.”

 

The effort is one that Prime Minister John Briceno encouraged other businesses to take as an example of not only creating jobs, but to give back to the community.

 

Prime Minister John Briceño

“When you look at what your organization has been doing, and that today you’re reaching the million dollar mark, I wish that more companies can see what you’re doing, and that then they would be either inspired, or feel a little bit ashamed, and say that we also have to do our part because he has a lot of needs.”

 

Marion Ali for News Five.