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It's no 'Secret', travel specialists care for disabled

Published:Friday | June 21, 2013 | 12:00 AM
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Mary Paz Ramirez, a meeting planner with AMR Resorts in Chicago, Illinois, is given a crash course in how to properly use a weed whacker by Clifton Haddo, a landscape supervisor employed to Secrets Resorts and Spas.
Althia Sinclair (third left), an employee of Secrets Resorts and Spas in Montego Bay, leaps into the air as she and resident manager Derrick Meany (centre), her colleagues, and travel specialists from the United States and Canada, demonstrate their joy in giving a facelift to the Catherine Hall Basic School in the city on June 7. - Contributed Photos
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For the three years since its inception, Secrets Resorts and Spas situated in Montego Bay has been demonstrating the meaning of corporate social responsibility by quietly, but consistently touching the lives of hundreds of young children, many of whom are mentally and physically challenged.

But last week, what had been kept a 'secret' for sometime came to light when 48 top travel specialists and meeting planners based across the United States of America and Canada were given an all-expense paid trip to Jamaica by Secrets Resorts to, among other activities, join hands with more than 40 members of staff and senior managers of the resort and employees from its United States-based corporate office to carry out handyman work at the Catherine Hall Basic School in Montego Bay.

Arranging themselves into three groups, the teams were bussed from the resort on to the school compound, to meet and spend some time with the 144 children who later showcased their talents in song and dance for the visitors.

BUSY DAY

It was a busy day for the team as they painted the school, weeded the compound, planted vegetable gardens, constructed picnic benches, repaired some broken furniture, among other things, while Secrets' resident sign artist, Steve 'Brigy Paul' Fisher did a satisfactory job in painting the signs and murals.

"Whatever we do and give, comes straight from the heart, we don't normally seek the publicity," said Emilio Huhn, Secrets' general manager, as he addressed the travel specialists and meeting planners at an earlier meeting ahead of the tasks at the school.

Said Huhn: "We have undertaken a lot of work in a number of communities and we take pride in what we do because we are happy to give back to the communities in which we serve. It is not only in monetary value that we give back, the executive and operational committee personnel sometimes spend their days off working in the communities," Huhn said.

Meanwhile, human resource director, Andrea Allie-Thorpe said that since starting operations in March 2010, Secrets has embraced the community in a meaningful way through their community enhancement projects, which include educational, humanitarian and environmental programmes in various communities.