Hyatt invites special-needs children for Christmas

About 20 children who attend the special-needs school Aiiku Gakuen were invited to the Grand Hyatt Tokyo hotel in Roppongi Hills, near their school, to meet Santa Claus on Nov. 29. This annual event started in 2016 after the hotel heard from parents of children with disabilities that they were reluctant to visit hotels with their families. Grand Hyatt Tokyo began collaborating with Aiiku Gakuen to show that everyone is welcome to take part in memorable experiences at luxury hotels, hoping to help “support the creation of memories.”

On the day of the event, the children and their parents enjoyed interacting with Santa at the “Christmas area” and together hung cork ornaments in the 17 colors of the U.N.’s sustainable development goals (SDGs) before taking photos. The ornaments were upcycled from the hotel’s used wine and Champagne corks by RE Kikou, a nonprofit that creates jobs for disabled people, and each had been created at a local welfare office by disabled people.

Small and modest, this annual event is an effort to connect the hotel and people in the local community, and also to ensure that no one is left behind socially or economically, regardless of their disability or other reasons, in line with the SDGs’ 10th goal of reducing inequality within and among countries: “By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status.”

Beyond the Santa event, the hotel also buys the children’s drawings and uses them as the main visual design for the Grand Hyatt Tokyo’s Christmas season.

〈グランド ハイアット 東京〉でホテル近隣にある特別支援学校「愛育学園」に通う18名の子供たちを招いて、サンタクロースとの交流会が行われた。この会は、障がいを持つ子供の父兄からの「ホテルに行くことを遠慮してしまう」という声を聞いたホテル側が、誰でも平等にホテルで過ごす時を楽しんで欲しいという思いを込め2016年よりスタートした“思い出づくりをサポート”するイベントだ。

SDGsの17ある目標の10番に掲げられているのは「人や国の不平等をなくそう」というもの。これには「2030年までに、年齢、性別、障がい、人種、民族、生まれ、宗教、経済状態などにかかわらず、すべての人が、能力を高め、社会的、経済的、政治的に取り残されないようにすすめる」という具体的なターゲットがある。このイベントは障がいなどに関わらず、すべての人が社会的・経済的に取り残されないようにするための取り組み。人と人、ホテルと近隣コミュニティをつなぐイベントなのだ。

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