WE often hear of tourists who stay loyal to one hotel because of their experience and the values shared by employees. At Shangri La’s Fijian Resort and Spa, some guests shared such a close connection with the employees that they themselves became lifelong friends.
This is especially true for five tourists who in 1981 took it upon themselves to create a social club to foster friendship among returnee guests.
For six years the club thrived as a social body, before members decided to take a more philanthropic approach to time spent together.
It was in 1987 that the Bilo Bar was transformed into a club that raised funds for locals in dire need.
During the resort’s 50th anniversary celebrations on October 22, 2017, this newspaper spoke to Bilo Bar founder Barry Hancock.
“Since 1987 we would have raised in the vicinity of $1.5million,” he shared.
“We’ve participated in a number of projects and we have actually completed a number of projects on our own.
We participated in the building of the four-bed expat wing at the Sigatoka Hospital with the hotel here.
“We have built five kindergartens and paid the teachers’ wages to educate the pre-school kids, to give them a start in life.”
Funds raised by the group have also gone towards a scholarship program, where the top male and female scorers are given funds when attaining tertiary education.
“We give them $750 each for their books and that goes on for four years. This program has only been enforced two years.”
Mr Hancock said the group had also lent a helping hand to the sand dunes.
“We’ve already completed the front fence along the highway and we’re securing the buildings and supplying the space for a restaurant, coffee shop to go in there.
“The museum and the National Trust of Fiji are working on a concept for the sand dunes which will be the learning centre and we are totally behind it.
“Some of the artefacts in that establishment go back 2600 years and they found relics of, for instance, a crocodile jawbone which no one ever thought they could find crocodiles in Fiji.”
“We are currently working on a St John Ambulance training hall and library just across in Cuvu.
“We will build that and then we will have lecturers come in and out to teach the children or village people how to fix injuries and so forth.”
Mr Hancock said there were 1200 active members of the Bilo Bar.
“There would be 8000 to 9000 members who have gone through the system. I was one of the founders and out of all the members at that time, I was the youngest by about 12 to 15 years.”
