PARK HYATT SIEM REAP & LHA SEWING SCHOOL RE-OPENS WITH 2020 HYATT COMMUNITY GRANT AWARD

Park Hyatt Siem Reap proudly presented a 2020 Hyatt Community Grant Award to the Life and Hope Association (LHA) on 5 March 2021 at Wat Damnak in Siem Reap.

In an early morning ceremony at the Park Hyatt Siem Reap & LHA Sewing School, Park Hyatt Siem Reap General Manager, Stavros Packeiser, awarded the grant cheque to Venerable Lorm Loeurm in front of a small crowd of school teachers, newly enrolled students, LHA volunteers and the Director of Human Resources from Park Hyatt Siem Reap.

The grant was used to reopen the Park Hyatt Siem Reap & LHA Sewing School for the 16th vocational training program after the temporary suspension of the school sewing program due to COVID-19. The funds cover expenses pertaining to the daily operation of the school, including upkeep and maintenance of the facilities and the teacher’s salary. The attendance of the sewing course by students from an impoverished background is only possible by the provision of food and accommodation and along with all expenses pertaining to the Park Hyatt Siem Reap & LHA Sewing School are fully funded by the luxury resort in Siem Reap. At the end of the sewing courses, students are given sewing machines, a materials starter pack, and in some cases a micro-loan so that they can use their new skills to earn a living well into the future. Some students will have the opportunity for an internship in the housekeeping department at Park Hyatt Siem Reap.

In order to obtain the grant, Park Hyatt Siem Reap needed to demonstrate the excellent work in partnership with LHA that aligns with Hyatt’s Signature Program, RiseHY. The global initiative focuses on supporting opportunity or under-resourced youth. Despite these unusual and challenging times, the management team of Park Hyatt Siem Reap have shown continued commitment to LHA and the drive to get the school reopened truly exemplifies the hotel’s purpose of caring for people in its community so they can be their best.

The relationship between Park Hyatt Siem Reap and the LHA Sewing School has a long history. The school was originally built in 2006 by Venerable Somneng and Venerable Chhoeurn with cooperating funds from Hotel de la Paix and Wat Damnak. Since 2006, the operational expenses for the school and its renovation in 2012 were fully funded by Hotel de la Paix. In 2013, Park Hyatt Siem Reap took over and the hotel has fully funded the school to date.
The mission of Life and Hope Association (LHA) is to improve the quality of lives of those most in need by providing compassionate care, access to education and opportunities to improve future prospects, especially to poor and vulnerable children and to disadvantaged young women.

Today, the core mission of the Park Hyatt Siem Reap & LHA Sewing School is to open doors to new opportunities for women and girls between the ages of 17-35 years old from the surrounding villages in Siem Reap. The school provides sewing skills for a one year period that enables the students to generate sustainable household income with the hope of supporting their families in the future.

All guests checking in at Park Hyatt Siem Reap can opt in to adding US$1 per night as a charitable donation to Park Hyatt Siem Reap & LHA Sewing School with all proceeds going directly to the school. Guests looking to further help this cause can visit the sewing school for an experience of learning the forgotten art of the Khmer seamstresses with the students, while learning more about the initiative with one on one sessions with the monks. During the experience, they will be able to sponsor a student or make further donations to the school that can truly change a life for the students. For further information, please visit https://www.experienceparkhyattsiemreap.com/park-hyatt-siem-reap-lha-sewing-school/