Page 260 - The New Gold Standard

PRINCIPLE 5: LEA VE A LASTING FOOTPRINT
food and games. Additionally, the resort’s engineering crew vol-
unteers their time to provide repairs to the orphanage. The re-
sort also donates bed linens, cribs, clothes, books, and other
educational materials. Ellen Terry, regional director of sales at
the International Sales Office, relates, “Hurricane Ivan was one
of the worst hurricanes to ever hit Jamaica. Our Ladies and Gen-
tlemen at The Ritz-Carlton, Rose Hall, moved all of the children
and staff from a local orphanage because there was no power or
water service in Montego Bay. The hotel staff provided shelter,
food, water, and clothing for these children as well as their care-
givers for many days. The guests in-house became involved with
caring for the children.” In essence, the care offered to orphans
in Jamaica by Ritz-Carlton staff resulted in life-impacting expe-
riences for the staff and guests.
As was the case during the Jamaican hurricane effort, hotel
guests frequently become engaged in outreach and support.
Micah Dean worked the front desk at The Ritz-Carlton, New
Orleans, during Hurricane Katrina. He shares, “It was not like a
normal Ritz-Carlton experience, of course. We had no idea how
long we would be there, so breakfast would be one banana, one
muffin, and one cup of water, and that was it. Everybody had to
be selfless. I worked an overnight shift at the front desk, and
around 2 or 3 a.m., an 84-year-old guest called me and told me
she had kidney pain. We called the nearest hospital, but their
first floor was under water so we could not get her treated there.
Abbott Laboratories had been having a conference with us, so I
called a guest listed as a doctor. I woke him up from his sleep,
and he gladly came from his room to help the woman.”
That type of noble service Micah witnessed during Hurri-
cane Katrina, from both guests and his fellow staff members
is indelibly etched in his memory. “I will always remember the
efforts of our Ladies and Gentlemen. To get our guests to safety,
we took them on a journey of about three blocks using laundry
carts—the kind with a metal frame and vinyl around the frame.
We had the guests’ luggage placed inside of those, and we put

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