Its purpose is to raise awareness among citizens about existing social inequalities and to collect Christmas gifts for the most disadvantaged children on our island. The result obtained was a total of 254 children benefited and more than 1000 toys donated, possible thanks to the effort of some thirty volunteers who in marathon days classified, packaged and distributed all the presents, turning the assembly hall of their headquarters in Arrecife into an improvised logistics base for the Three Wise Men around that time.
The need for Red Cross to develop this campaign is given by the socioeconomic differences between equals in our population, which often go unnoticed among us, but which for Javier Camacho, coordinator of Social Intervention of the Red Cross, is the daily bread.
During 2005, the technicians and volunteers of his department attended to 375 different cases within the program of Children and young people in social difficulty, including more than 250 of these as beneficiaries of the Campaign. Other organizations, such as Cáritas, the Mararía Association and the municipal social services also participated in the detection of these minors. "It is not a simple task ? Camacho clarifies ? since for each case, it must be verified if it is a real need and, among all, see which are more pressing to give them priority".
The Solidarity Goal: goals of happiness
Gathering the number of necessary gifts is possible thanks to the collaboration of numerous toy stores, associations and public and private organizations on the island, which participate as donors in the campaign. But the solidarity hand of the rest of society also intervenes. For six years, the Red Cross has been organizing in collaboration with the Department of Youth and Sports of the Cabildo de Lanzarote a Solidarity Goal, where young and old are depositing the gifts.
This act, which until now was held in the Sports City, coincides with the Christmas Gymnastics Festival, which this time will take place in the Municipal Sports Center of Tías. The goal will be ready to receive "goals of happiness" from 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, December 20, with the festival starting two hours later in that same place.
A distribution without losses
The system used by the Red Cross consists of each of the children who are going to benefit from the campaign having to write the letter to "Their Majesties the Kings of the East" listing the three gifts they would like to receive. The pages (in this case dressed with "Red Cross" on their chest) usually manage to cover all the needs with what is donated. On the contrary, the number of dolls usually exceeds that of demand. But these remaining toys do not end up piled up in a warehouse, but a few days after the holidays they are distributed among the public educational centers of the island that need it.
New, non-warlike or sexist? and also educational.
As they already warned last year, from the Red Cross they are again calling for conscious participation in this campaign. It is about fighting against social inequalities, so the minors who are going to receive the gifts must do so in equal conditions as the rest of those in their environment. Camacho has stressed that "it is difficult to give an outlet to deteriorated, broken or incomplete toys, because they do not help to achieve the objective of the campaign".
Just as they do not see it appropriate to donate toys with warlike or sexist significance within a humanitarian institution that fights against violence between peoples and promotes gender equality. Finally, they warn that gifts do not only have to be dolls; among the letters received some ask for educational games or clothes. All these aspects are reflected globally in the motto of the campaign: Give a better world.
