Digicel Feeds The Children In Lae

December 12th 2007 - Digicel is making it it’s business this Christmas to contribute towards helping less fortunate children celebrate the festive season

Wednesday, December 12, 2007 – Digicel, the fastest growing mobile operator in the Pacific, celebrated Christmas over the weekend with the homeless children in Lae.

Digicel in partnership with the renown charity organisations Salvation Army and the Lae Rotary Club put a smile to the faces of the homeless children in Lae with presents and food through a programme called “Feed The Children”, an initiative set up by the Salvation Army to get kids off the streets and give them a second chance in life.

A total of 50 children, between 7 and 15 years of age, from the streets of Lae were treated on a very nice Christmas meal last weekend. Digicel staff and Salvation Army officers, who were on hand to cook and distribute the food, ensured that all the children got a nutricious meal. The children also received Digicel bags filled with food items partly donated by Super Value Stores. And to top it off , they all received teddy bears and other small gifts packed in the Digicel bag as early Christmas presents.

Salvation Army Divisional Commander Sere Kala, in his word of appreciation regarding the “Feed the Children Program” on Saturday, said “I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to Digicel for their support in assisting the Salvos with the street kids program.” Commander Kala added “This is very special, especially during the Christmas period, as many of these kids would miss out on a descent meal because of the situation they are in. Many of these kids would probably not have had an experience like this this Christmas and would have been out on the street begging to survive to make ends meet just to feed their family.”

Digicel’s Head of Marketing, Anurag Borkar, said: “Digicel is very happy to be able to contribute and support initiatives such as these where charity organisations team up to make a day in the lives of these less fortunate children so much better especially during the Christmas time”.

Digicel, in its first ever Christmas in Papua New Guinea has embarked on surprise visits by the Digicel Santa and his Digiel Team to different charity homes and childrens’ wards in hospitals right around the country. Since launching Digicel has been actively involved in supporting the community through activities such as the street vendor programme, supporting medical services through its partnership with St John Ambulance as well as donating towards Operation Open Heart, the recent Oro disaster and the implementation of the first mobile HIV Hotline in Papua New Guinea.