Red Carnation Hotel Group boosts Amy Biehl Foundation

Bea Tollman, founder of RCH; Horst Frehse (left), GM of The Twelve Apostles Hotel and Spa and Kevin Chaplin, MD of Amy Biehl Foundation at the ceremony.

The hotels within the group namely, The Twelve Apostles Hotel and Spa in Cape Town, The Oyster Box in Durban and Bushmans Kloof Wilderness Reserve & Wellness Retreat near Clanwilliam have collectively raised over R100 000 last year - an amount which was donated to the Amy Biehl Foundation last week.

Kevin Chaplin, managing director of The Amy Biehl Foundation and Bea Tollman, founder of the Red Carnation Hotel Collection, officiated the cheque handover at The Twelve Apostles Hotel and Spa earlier this month.

The Amy Biehl Foundation was founded in 1997 and is a non-profit organisation based in Cape Town whose mission is to prevent youth violence through a holistic approach to youth and community development in socio-economically disadvantaged communities in and around Cape Town. Its main objective is to develop and empower underprivileged youths aged 6-18 years in the townships to contribute to their communities. This is executed by providing opportunities through education, cultural programmes and activities, with the belief that empowered youths are not likely to commit violent acts. ABF aims to give them opportunities to become future leaders and entrepreneurs in society.

Supporting the Foundation in many ways

The Red Carnation properties have decided to work closely with the Amy Biehl Foundation as their chosen charity with the aim to support the purpose and mission of the foundation in as many ways as possible. Some of these methods include adding R5 to every guest account, which is then donated to the foundation. The hotel will also donate all monies saved as a result of their Green initiatives, to the foundation.

This year the total fundraising account, paid to the foundation on Tuesday, was a substantial R102 783. "This amount was graciously raised by the generous help of guests at two of the Red Carnation Hotel Collection properties and the sale of my Cookbook, Bea Tollman - A Life in Food. Visitors were given the opportunity to donate R5 to the foundation on settlement of their hotel account - without them this hearty gift would have been impossible.

"Some of our other international companies also support the foundation," said Tollman, adding "we would therefore like to thank visitors to our establishment who enabled us to make a difference in the lives of South African youth."