The France Macau Chamber of Commerce (FMCC) recently held its annual charity gala dinner at MGM Macau, raising 61,000 patacas in support of the Association of Rehabilitation of Drug Abusers of Macao (ARTM) to launch the latter’s awareness programme about alcohol abuse and its impact, as well as the setting-up of a 24-hour hotline, the organisation said in a recent statement.
The event, titled “France Macau Chamber of Commerce (FMCC) 2022 Charity Gala Dinner”, was themed “Around the World in 80 Days” and was attended by around 290 people, according to the statement.
The statement noted that FMCC Chairman Rutger Verschuren and the chamber’s executive board members welcomed Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) Deputy Director Ricky Hoi Io Meng and other Macau and Greater Bay Area (GBA) civic and industry leaders to the event.
The event, the statement said, had a recorded welcome speech from the new Consul General of France in Hong Kong and Macau, Christile Drulhe, which was followed by Verschuren’s speech, where he drew a parallel between the event’s theme and the near three-year COVID-19 pandemic journey of Macau’s civil society and business sector.
The hotelier was quoted by the statement as saying: “Let us reframe bad luck as an opportunity for growth, reflection, change and developing resiliency. This is exactly what FMCC and many of us in Macau have done: turning the unexpected hardships into opportunities by seeing and connecting the bright dots.”
Verschuren added that “almost three years down the road, we have found ways to survive yet [it has not been] easy and we have gone through a lot of changes and new normals. By sourcing and implementing new technologies, new organisation structures and concepts, rethinking our business processes, we became more efficient and stronger.”
This handout photo taken last Friday and provided by the FMCC shows its Chairman Rutger Verschuren (left) and Deputy Director of ARTM Ka Ho Integrative Center Erick Cheung Lik Hang posing with the symbolic cheque at MGM Macau.
