InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) held a charitable golf event in suburban Beijing on Sept 3 in hopes of raising funds to help more school aged children through Project Hope.

Charitable fundraising through golf tournaments started seven years ago at IHG. The decision-makers picked Project Hope as partners to build more schools in rural areas so that more children could get the education they deserved.

"Running a responsible business is a big part of our company value, and is a core focus for us," said Roland Steiner, Regional General Manager Beijing and General Manager of Crowne Plaza Park View, Beijing.

"It (the philanthropic activity) is also a part of our company goal across China," Steiner said.

In the same week, IHG has held three golf tournaments in Guangzhou, Qingdao and Beijing to raise funds.

Golf was picked over other types of sports because it is becoming more popular in China and also around the world. The organizers thought it would be easier to attract people to join and donate to the program.

According to Steiner, the program is doing pretty well. "We have built five schools just this year in with the funds we've raised."

That literally translates to more classrooms for children, and chances of education they could have been robbed of.

And golf is not the only channel funds are raised at IHG.

"We also host cooking competitions and ask our guests to donate to the good cause when they stay at our hotels. Individual hotels also host their own activities to support the homeless and children," said Steiner.

Hosting cooking competitions is a win-win situation for the hotel and the community.

"We thought it was a good idea for our team members to have a cooking competition. We have many suppliers that support us, and we wanted to ask them to give us a helping hand. It also helps to bring our standards up," said John Vouillamoz, General Manager of Holiday Inn Beijing Focus Square.

"We believe the program still has a large room for growth", said Steiner. "We have 20 hotels in Beijing that are already participating in this event. If we could get more partners to join hands with us, we can do bigger and better and help more people."

Steiner, Vouillamoz and their friends meet regularly on Saturdays to play golf. Vouillamoz enjoys playing golf not only because the sport is fun in itself, but even more so because it's a "social event."

"You get to meet people from all sectors on the fields, bankers, businessmen, investors - people who do not necessarily work in the hotel business. And in a hotel, we serve guests from all sectors in life. It's a good way to get to know more people and broaden my horizon."

And he has. Vouillamoz has discovered similarities between golf and hotel management, though seemingly poles apart in nature at first glance.

"Passion - that's another thing the two share. I'm passionate about my work, and I've grown to be passionate about improving my scores in golf," he said. "If you are passionate about your work, you will be successful. If you are passionate enough about golf, your scores will improve."

"To me, the most attractive part about golf is the challenge. I challenge myself to do better than the previous game, and challenge myself to improve every time I play", said general manager.

That shares a common root with everything in life. With confidence, passion and courage to challenge oneself, children who have benefited from the Project Hope and IHG's golf tournaments will earn a better grade and walk further in life.

Vouillamoz described himself as a "world citizen." Born in Switzerland with rich work experience in the Middle East and Asia, he said he is open-minded to all cultures and ideas.

I hope that the children who have benefited from Vouillamoz's work, though not as privileged as he, would grow up to be as kind, open-minded and hardworking individuals like Vouillamouz.

And, perhaps one day, they too, will climb high enough to host a similar program to help kids that were in their shoes when they were young.