People are encouraged to adopt a wish from children of these families.
All they have to do is to pick one of the many wishes, buy the item on the wish list and put it at a collection point. The company will then arrange to have the gifts delivered to the children at an event.
The gifts soon trickle in...
There are huge kitchen playset, Anello bag, Nike bag, basketball, Converse and Addidas product, etc.
And it seems that there are wishlist for things like skate scooter, headphone, shirt and jean.
Majority of the gifts received are from well-known brands an are not cheap.
This makes me wonder if the children only specify the item and the brand that they want.
If they only specify the items, kudos to the donors for their generosity. In fact, these donors might have bought those expensive stuff for their quality and durability.
But what if the kids actually specify the brand of items they want?
What if the company had ask the children to list down their wish list and the reason for choosing a particular gift?
This reminds me of Standard Chartered Bank's 8-minute Service Pledge that it rolled up a few years ago.
This 8-minute Service Pledge is part of the bank overall approach to drive superior customer service whereby it pledges that customers will be served within 8 minutes of visiting the bank's branch, failing which, it will contribute $1 to charity and participate in community work.
On the surface, it looks like a win-win situation for all parties involved.
Customers get quick service. Staff are more efficient. And there's some form of corporate social responsibility built into it that benefits charity and community.
But on closer look, there is a huge conflict.
Is the bank sending the message that charity is an afterthought? Only to be given some donations only if the bank is unable to fulfill the 8-minute Service Pledge?
And how are the staff going to feel? For every customer they manage to serve within 8-minutes, this means that no money will be given to charity.
What if they contribute $1 for every customer served within 8-minutes and reduce that amount by half if customer not served within 8-minutes?