Three volunteers from the Island Assembly of the Red Cross in Lanzarote were distinguished last Friday in an institutional event of an autonomous nature held at the Gran Canaria Congress Palace, where the organization wanted to recognize the work of up to 42 volunteers, workers, members, personalities and organizations that have directly or indirectly collaborated in their tasks. The event, which was attended by the president of the Spanish Red Cross and the International Federation of this humanitarian movement, Juan Manuel Suárez del Toro from Gran Canaria, had the mission to "simply say thank you and publicly recognize a tireless and grateful work", according to Juan Campos, president of the Red Cross in Las Palmas. Adán Martín Menis, former president of the Government of the Canary Islands, and José Segura Clavell, former Delegate of the Government in the Canary Islands, were also decorated with gold medals of the Institution.
The awarded residents volunteers were Rafael Hernández Suárez and Amparo Quintero Muñoz, volunteers of the Relief and Social Intervention Plan respectively, were decorated with the bronze medal. For his part, the current director of the Red Cross Youth on the island, José Miguel Feo Eugenio, also received a diploma in recognition of voluntary activity. According to those responsible for the Red Cross, these are three very different volunteers among them but with something in common such as commitment and responsibility.
Three stories
Rafael, with two decades of voluntary stories behind him, began in the Red Cross as a military man, doing social service and has remained there until now, participating mainly in relief and emergency projects, but also collaborating occasionally with social projects. Amparo, who has only been there for a few years, dedicates several hours a week to visiting elderly people who live alone and every Christmas strives to make the toy collection campaign possible. José Miguel, who like Amparo has been there for a few years, was oriented from the beginning to the group of young people. His group capacity and motivation have made him currently the Island Director and Provincial Deputy Director of the Red Cross Youth, the youth section of the Red Cross.
Next week, on Friday, December 5, World Volunteer Day is celebrated, another sign of recognition to the millions of people who work every day for others in some part of the world without expecting anything in return. Nearly 97 million participate only in the International Red Cross Movement.
