If you know anything about Gordon “Butch” Stewart, chairman of the Sandals Resorts International group, you won’t be surprised to find that his youngest son and now CEO of Sandals, Adam, shares many of the qualities of his father, including his relentless drive for excellence and a magnetic personality that pulls in everyone from bus boys to prime ministers.

What may surprise you, though, is that Adam’s passion for Sandals extends to the new philanthropic arm of the family business, the Sandals Foundation, launched under his chairmanship this year. “As Jamaicans, we have an obligation to give back,” says Stewart. “I think as people who sit in positions that can get things done, we have an obligation to the country of Jamaica and the islands in which we operate.”

Not that philanthropy is new to the 28-year-old Sandals Group, which has already donated about US$11 million in cash and kind to charities in Jamaica and across the islands where their resorts are located. From early on, Butch Stewart recognized that it was essential to provide assistance to the communities in which the hotels are based. They started with Flankers: the economicallychallenged community located not far from a string of luxury hotels including Sandals Montego Bay.

The belief was that many of the hotel’s employees did (and still do) come from Flankers, and it was important to support them by helping to build a better community. Additionally, in the context of Jamaica, Flankers could either be a potential problem or a strategic partner for the hotel.