Why it’s important to be the heart of the community

Welcome Back, it’s Stephen Hunt, Managing Director of Hunt Hospitality, International.

Today I’m discussing being involved in the heart of the community. This is possibly one of my favourite topics and I believe why our company has been so successful. What being involved in the heart of community is for us in hospitality is being involved with your local community groups. It could be:

• a chamber of commerce
• a local charity
• a sporting team – and preferably, all three!

I’m proud to say that I’m a Board Member of the Wildfires, which is the Hunter Valley and Newcastle’s best rugby team that are now on the Shute Shield. And to be a part of this and create pathways for young kids is something that I’m truly proud of. How I got involved with the rugby team to start with, or the club as we are now, was basically by my young boys playing in the local competition. We saw the opportunity to help sponsor and then as the opportunity for myself to get involved with the establishing Board of the Wildfires grew – I was delighted to jump on board! So now we’re on the Shute Shield, and we’re creating pathways for our young kids to play one of the best rugby competitions in the world and now some of those kids are now playing in the Super Rugby comp and for Australia. To be a part of something so special really means a lot to me.

Another group, we’re heavily involved with is Variety Children’s Charity. Now we’ve donated a lot of money over the years to Variety and I’m not saying that to up myself, I’m just saying that that the joy that we see on the kids faces when they receive Christmas presents, and they receive laptops at the schools that can’t afford to give it is amazing. I’m the one who should be thanking them, because that is so special.

So, get involved in the local community! It’s going to pay 10 times over for your business.

All the best and I’ll see you next time. Cheers!