Sheraton Metechi Palace

Social responsibility has been the cornerstone of Sheraton Metechi Palace during its 25 years of existence. Although the Hotel has been undergoing major renovation works for year and a half and is currently closed, it remains focused on its work and aims to support those in need. On June 5th, the Sheraton Metechi Palace team travelled to Gremi, Kvareli region, to donate a number of hotel items – room accessories, bed matresses, pillows, full sets of linen, furniture, pottery, and household appliances to the Temi Charitable Union.

“We are proud to grant such a variety of items, likes furniture, bedding, crockery, and clothing to Temi. Over two decades, Temi has been doing a priceless job with the support of international organizations, and we wanted to do our part and also to encourage others, including international and Georgian companies, to help Temi,” Tamuna Guledani, Sheraton Palace Sales and Marketing Department Head told GEROGIA TODAY.

Currently, Temi shelters more than seventy people of various ages and capacities aiming to give them better life conditions, providing them care and creating an environment where all treat each other as equals. That was one of the reasons Sheraton decided to help.

“Temi carries the belief very deeply that all are equal, a concept we agree with wholeheartedly. This donation of ours is not one off project. We regularly help those in need in whatever way we can,” said Andreas Heidingsfelder, General Manager of Sheraton Metechi Palace Hotel.

As part of Starwood Hotel & Resorts, since 1997 Sheraton Metechi Palace Hotel has carried out numerous projects assisting the socially vulnerable. Delivering food and beverage products to the homeless retired, providing August 2008 IDPs housed temporarily in a nearby school with household items, repairing the heating system and bedrooms of children in the House of the Future, giving Christmas charity dinners for elderly people, the Hotel is also actively involved in environmental protection activities, planting and watering plants around the city. Sheraton globally leads the worldwide initiative to support UNICEF’S immunization and malaria programs for vulnerable children in developing countries of the Check Out for Children organization.

“We are thankful for the charitable donation of furniture, kitchen and household items from Sheraton Metechi Palace,” said Tatiana Trofimchuk, Project Coordinator at Temi. “These donations will help better the lives of disabled and socially vulnerable residents in our community. We would like to thank the Sheraton Metechi Palace team for coming to our community and for their kindness, support and friendship.”

Temi has been actively supporting people with different physical and intellectual abilities and the socially vulnerable for more than 25 years, with the aim to improve their living conditions, increase their quality of life, and provide opportunities for personal growth and development.

Temi residents include people with impaired motor/movement abilities, hearing and visual impairments or short limbs; people with a combination of physical and intellectual disabilities; with different stages of autism, cerebral palsy, and anxiety; people with slight physical and intellectual disabilities experiencing discrimination and exclusion from society; abandoned elderly people; single mothers; orphans; and children born to parents with disabilities.

Temi’s school-age children attend the local public school in Gremi village, while young people who grew up in Temi now attend technical colleges, universities, work in their chosen professions or work in social enterprises at Temi.

To support the social integration, healthy development, active lifestyles of community residents, Temi organizes a variety of activities, including music therapy, physical therapy, and lessons in handicraft, playing music instruments, singing, dancing, art activities, literature and languages lessons and other activities that respond to the interests of community residents.

Further, community residents with different abilities participate in recreational events, such as football games, scavenger hunts, excursions to local lakes and parks. Educational and recreational activities help with social skills, group relationship skills, and self-development of community members.

Social enterprise activities promote the independence and teamwork skills of disabled and vulnerable community residents and also help the community become self-sustaining. Ongoing projects include vegetable gardens, greenhouse, vineyards, wine production, bread making, community carpentry, agricultural tourism, chickens, pigs, beehives and others. Temi believes in the necessity of a healthy and inclusive working and living environment, that teaches stewardship of the earth. Community members work together with local artisans, farmers and also foreign volunteers.

Meri Taliashvili