LAVOZDELANZAROTE.COM
Photos: Javier Fuentes
Since the toy collection campaign kicked off on December 21 with the celebration at the "Solidarity Goal" Sports City, about thirty Red Cross volunteers set out to make the dreams of the most disadvantaged children on the island come true on Three Kings Day.
The Calle Real de Arrecife, the Deiland Shopping Center - with the collaboration of the Rotary Club -, the Tías Theater and even the headquarters of the Lanzarote Nationalist Party, were also some of the many scenarios where day after day, and in the presence of some of Their Majesties the Kings of the East, the solidarity contributions that the people of Lanzarote made in the form of new toys were collected. And such was this solidarity that, once again, not only was it possible to cover the express wishes of the 254 children who benefited from this campaign, but it was also possible to enjoy a surplus that the humanitarian organization will soon send to other recipients.
These two and a half hundred children correspond to the careful study that the Social Services of the different town councils and social workers of various organizations carried out within the cases of exclusion and social difficulty detected. In this way, the children with whom the municipal services have worked and who benefited were 75 in Arrecife, 45 in Tías, 12 in Teguise, 11 in Haría and 10 in Tinajo. The Mararía Association, Cáritas and Red Cross detected 25, 48 and 28 cases respectively, either among their users or within the family of one of them.
An arduous task
Javier Camacho and Vanesa Cordón, island coordinators of Social Intervention of the Red Cross and of the Red Cross Youth respectively, have been in charge of managing this campaign that is celebrated for the fifth year on the island. A task that is not easy, especially considering that it was the first time for both of them to face this event.
"The challenge was not only to coordinate the work of the volunteers; it was also to ensure that the donated toys corresponded to the three gifts that the children had requested by letter to the Kings", says Camacho. And so it could be. Of the more than a thousand received, the 762 packages needed were packaged so that no child was left without any of the three chosen.
In part, it was also achieved thanks to the gift lists that establishments such as Megacentro, Spínola and Deiland made available throughout the Christmas season so that citizens could directly purchase the necessary toys. Vanesa Cordón also stated that "many times we do not appreciate the work of all these volunteers, but if they had not done it, these children would have felt first-hand the difficult situation in which they live when they return to school and talk to their classmates".
Well received surpluses
"Dolls and the leading toys of that year are what people donate the most, and that is why there are always leftovers", explains Javier Camacho. Although in this case, luckily, we can talk about surpluses that will have a good ending, since, just as the Red Cross did last year, this year, several early childhood and primary education centers on the island, as well as the different children's shelters that exist, will benefit from them again.
Faced with such an avalanche of gifts, but well received, Arturo Ramírez, island president of the Red Cross, expressed his satisfaction with the success of this year's campaign and wanted to thank the participation, not only of the volunteers, but also of the people of Lanzarote and the different public and private institutions that joined and promoted collection events such as the one that the Island Council, in the first instance, helped to celebrate in the Sports City, coinciding with the Christmas Gymnastics Festival.
