The Adelson Family Foundation presented a ceremonial cheque for more than US$1.9 million (MOP$15.4 million) on Tuesday to the University of Saint Joseph to assist its recovery efforts after Typhoon Hato and subsequent storms caused major damage to its new campus in August and September.
Executives from Las Vegas Sands Corp and Sands China Ltd presented the ceremonial cheque to Father Peter Stilwell, rector of the University of Saint Joseph, on behalf of the Adelson Family Foundation and its founders, Chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corp and Sands China Ltd Sheldon Adelson and Dr Miriam Adelson at the university’s new campus. While there, the executives toured the damaged areas that will be restored with the help of the Adelson Family Foundation donation.
“When we heard about the extensive damage to Macau as a result of Typhoon Hato, our hearts immediately went out to all of the people impacted by it,” said the Adelsons. “We care deeply about the Macau community and wanted to do something to help in the aftermath of the storm. Hopefully this donation to the University of Saint Joseph can help speed up the recovery process and get them fully back to providing all of their educational services as soon as possible. We look forward to seeing the results for ourselves during our next trip to Macau.”
The basement level of the university’s new Green Campus on Ilha Verde became flooded after the storm, submerging nearly all its installed and stored equipment under three meters of water. Five days of pumping were required in order to drain the basement.
The Adelson Family Foundation donation will go toward addressing four critical areas of need at the university:
Library
The university’s library had a large number of books in storage on the basement level, which was subsequently flooded in its entirety. As a result, the books – estimated to be valued at approximately MOP$16 million – were tragically and irrevocably damaged.
The donation from the Adelson Family Foundation will allow the basement level of the library to undergo a complete redesign to protect against future natural disasters, including the development of a new deposit space for the library’s collection and an increase in its electronic resources to compensate for the physical loss of shelf space and books.
Server room
The storms also damaged the university’s server room – which houses its IT infrastructure – and knocked out services such as Internet, phone and closed-circuit TV. The server room will now be upgraded with a monitoring system to prevent future damage from severe weather. The system will help identify potential risks, such as water leakage and fire, and will send alerts so that pre-emptive work can be carried out to avoid impending damage.
Audio-Visual Studio
Plans were in place to build a basement-level audio-visual studio for the Digital Cinema Programme of the Faculty of Creative Industries before the typhoon hit. After the storm, about MOP$7 million worth of audio-visual equipment in storage at the basement level was completely submerged in flooded water for days, causing irreparable damage to the equipment. Some equipment was covered by insurance and by a Macao SAR Government subsidy. The Adelson Family Foundation’s donation will support the university to design and build a new studio in a safe and appropriate location.
Fitness room and recreational corner
The gymnasium space located in the basement of the campus was completely destroyed after the typhoon. That space may now be reassigned to better serve the post-typhoon needs of the campus. In its stead, a fitness room and recreational corner will be built in Residential Hall to provide fitness and recreational activities for the university’s students
The timing of Typhoon Hato – in August, just before the start of the new academic term – was particularly unfortunate for the university, which had only recently received its new Ilha Verde campus in June.
“We were all caught off guard by the severity of the damage inflicted by Typhoon Hato and did our best to take it as a challenging way to begin a new term on a new campus,” said Father Stilwell. “The immediate interest and timely support from the Adelson Family Foundation came as an unexpected and heart-warming surprise. Without it, we would have been hard put to get the damaged facilities back to working order this academic year. We are deeply grateful to the Adelsons both for having noticed our plight and for their rapid and generous support to USJ at such a critical time.”
The MOP$15 million donation by the Adelson Family Foundation will go a long way toward making the University of Saint Joseph’s new campus fully operational as quickly as possible.
The foundation has made a pledge to donate a total of MOP$35 million in disaster relief funds to Macao in the wake of the destructive 2017 storm season. Including a MOP$30 million donation pledged by Sands China Ltd, the Adelson Family Foundation and Sands China Ltd. have committed to a total donation of MOP$65 million to support typhoon disaster relief in Macau.
