In 2017 the Christmas spirit was particularly strong and helped us to achieve a record year with our Lonely Christmas Tree campaign. Altogether, we received a total of 63,880 Christmas presents! This means that Strawberry donated 638,800 SEK to UNICEF.
December generosity
The month of December is now over, and Christmas with it. We have taken our first steps into the New Year and now have the opportunity to reflect and look back on our annual Christmas campaign – Lonely Christmas Tree. Every December, all of our hotels get involved in our Lonely Christmas Tree tradition, which is about spreading Christmas joy to others and giving children a better Christmas. Anyone who wants to can put Christmas presents under the tree in our hotel lobbies, and for each gift given, Strawberry also donates 10 SEK to the UNICEF Sweet Dreams project, which combats human trafficking.
A record number of Christmas presents
Many hotels collected over a thousand Christmas presents, but nowhere was the joy of giving as strong as in Skien at the Clarion Collection Hotel Bryggeparken. This hotel received a total of 4,070 Christmas presents. In Trondheim, Clarion Hotel Trondheim and Comfort Hotel Trondheim gathered almost 5,100 presents together.
“We have a fantastic collaboration with the Omvendt Julenisse organization here in Skien. Several people come in saying that they are happy to contribute and that it is becoming a tradition. It is both joyful and touching as it means we have created something sustainable. In December 2016 we collected 2,000 Christmas presents and wanted to try and increase it to 3,000 the following year. The fact that we actually doubled the total is unbelievable and this means that even more children in Skien and Telemark have had a better Christmas, at the same time as we donate money to UNICEF,” says Trond Herrefoss, hotel director at Clarion Collection Hotel Bryggeparken.
The note that meant so much
“One of my strongest memories is of a man who came in to put a Christmas present under the tree. It was late in the evening of December 22nd. He had been in town and found a note pinned to a tree with a wish from a child. So when he came in to us, he wondered if we knew what other children might wish for, because he would gladly make some more of them happy with presents before the activities finished on Christmas eve. It really impressed me,” says Trond Herrefors.
The hotels choose themselves which organisations they collaborate with, and on the activities page there is an overview of the different organisations.
