An apple a day keeps the doctor away, but not when there's a full-on feast benefitting Operation Santa Claus and its 13 beneficiaries.
Doctors, nurses and staff members at the Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital came together for a special Christmas lunch held in and around the facility's fourth-floor auditorium. There, hundreds of people paid HK$100 to eat home-cooked meals and desserts prepared by staff from nearly 25 different hospital departments.
The admission fees - along with a dollar-for-dollar matching campaign arranged by the hospital, silent auction bids and raffle sales - went towards helping Operation Santa Claus and its chosen charities. The total is still being calculated.
The main room was decorated with tinsel, balloons and festive ceiling hangings. Christmas music was played over loud speakers and, later, entertainers performed magic and music for the group. Dr Joseph Chan Woon-tong, deputy medical superintendent, wore a Santa hat during the festive event on Monday. Chan, along with Agatha Hu, the hospital's community services development director, recently helped form the Village Volunteers, the hospital's community outreach programme.
This is the first year the Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital is an Operation Santa Claus sponsor.
'Christmas is giving... What we like about Operation Santa Claus is we can visit the different beneficiaries at a later time, so we can get to know them,' Hu said. 'We hope to help them.'