Dilmah does more

hitea dilmah_kids

Dilmah will partner with Hilton Hotels in August in hosting a series of charity High Tea events aimed at raising funds to construct education and life skills training centres for thousands of children across Sri Lanka. Proceeds from the Real High Tea for Charitea events will be matched dollar for dollar by Dilmah Founder Merrill J. Fernando to construct, equip and staff 'Empowerment Centres' for underprivileged children.

The planned centres will extend the work of Merrill J. Fernando's MJF Foundation through its MJF Kids Programme, to establish centres which will initially care for over 1,000 children. These Centres will be a part of the wider MJF Foundation humanitarian assistance programmes which already help in the education of nearly 250 children.

The Charitea events will be held at Hilton hotels in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane, Flying Fish Restaurant & Bar and the Novotel Glen Waverley. Guests will be treated to a decadent high tea menu matched with Dilmah tea.

Dilmah will establish 'Australian Houses' within each of the MJF Foundation centres, in a similar initiative to what the Foundation has undertaken already in Moneragala and Siyambalanduwa, two of the most remote and backward parts of the country.

The MJF Centre in Colombo (Moratuwa) is a US$20 million initiative housing resources for Down Syndrome and Autistic children, an educational centre for MJF Kids, a vocational training centre for underprivileged youth and a centre for women. The IT centre within Moratuwa supports youth who undergo extensive training programs. Another centre supports the educational needs of the visually handicapped and hearing impaired children from Moneragala. Details of funds raised and progress in the implementation of the projects will be posted online with images for participants to see their donations being utilised.

Merrill J. Fernando established his business on family values and formed the MJF Foundation to fulfil his commitment to making his family business a matter of human service. The Foundation utilises a portion of the revenue from the global sales of Dilmah to change the lives of the underprivileged in Sri Lanka.

Each year the Foundation touches 10,000 lives, cares for 3,500 children through Child Development Centres, nurtures 120 children through MJF Kids, empowers 300 women, creates 500 entrepreneurs through the Small Entrepreneur Programme - SEP and uplifts the lives of the plantation workers.

The dates for the Charitea events are as follows:

Melbourne - Monday August 8, Hilton on the Park and Tuesday August 9, Novotel Glen Waverley
Adelaide - Wednesday August 10, Hilton Adelaide
Perth - Friday August 12, Hilton Perth
Sydney - Monday August 15, Hilton Sydney and Tuesday August 16, Flying Fish Restaurant & Bar
Brisbane - Thursday August 18, Hilton Brisbane

Tickets are $60 per person and can be purchased online or by calling 1800 333 663

Dilmah began its exploration of tea gastronomy in 1999 with the aim of matching the functional, health driven benefits of taking tea with food, with a more sensory pairing. Amongst the outcomes is Dilmah's Real High Tea, an initiative that seeks to extend the enjoyment of High Tea with a variety of real teas with different terroirs, and food that has tea as an ingredient or is sensorially matched to different teas. The intention is simply to enhance the pleasure.