The Business Journal team and members of our sister companies in our group spent one Saturday in mid-November supporting the Marianas Business Journal’s Charity Golf Tournament in November, which benefited the Alee Shelter.
The paper received amazing support — both in the form of sponsorship and in participation, and we covered the event in our pages in December.
On these Commentary pages in this issue, you will see in Corporate Giving just some of the support the business communities that operate in our region give needy non-profits.
It is also amazing just how deep companies — and their own employees also — are able to dig at a time when our economy is struggling.
Golf tournaments as fundraisers are a way organizations can at present plan and actually host an event for the greater good.
Our golf courses, which in previous years saw tourists playing alongside our local and regional golfers can also tangibly benefit from that business. We cannot yet hold award banquets in Guam for all those golfers, but we can still feed and provide beverages for the players.
Gov. Lourdes A. Leon Guerrero has not yet eased restrictions that prevent restaurants from maximizing or even improving use of their space and our hotels from hosting larger events. There was great disappointment in Guam that only outdoor gatherings were increased before Christmas.
In her expansive comments to the Journal for our Front-Page story the governor referenced fiscal support of the community and grants.
Grants are wonderful for non-profits and businesses who have lost so much and have so little potential to earn more. And then there are those businesses that are not able to open their doors because they depend on tourism, or the numbers do not make sense given the expenses they would carry to do limited business.
Organizers of fundraising events and hoteliers are restrained in their comments for our story.
But they clearly need to fish for support, rather than be given a fish.
And they need to do that very soon in 2022. mbj
