In 2021, the City Council awarded the Gold Medal of the municipality to the Yaiza Civil Protection Group, the highest distinction included in its Regulations on Honors, Distinctions and Ceremonial, for its exceptional behavior and active and selfless participation in the months of health emergency caused by covid. However, that solemn act of recognition framed in the commemorative program Yaiza Historical City was marked by the restrictions of the pandemic, “without being able to hug or congratulate each other, with the smile hidden behind the mask”, and that is why, the Municipal Government, sharing the feelings of the more than forty volunteers who worked selflessly and in solidarity, presented this Friday a reminder of the honor received. “Because it is only fair that each of those who made possible the miracle of helping others survive, with nothing more than humanitarian commitment, has in their home this sign of affection and gratitude from the people”, as expressed by the mayor of Yaiza, Óscar Noda, at the event held at the Benito Pérez Armas House of Culture, attended by members of the Group, family members, representatives of different security and emergency bodies and councilors of the southern Corporation.
The councilor responsible for Citizen Security and Civil Protection, Javier Camacho, recalled that “our volunteers carried out more than eleven thousand services during the most difficult moments of the pandemic in coordinated work with the Social Services of the City Council”, listing, among others, the transfer of social menus, transfers of sanitary equipment and school supplies, disinfection of public spaces, transfers of residents for PCR tests, “prioritizing their solidarity commitment to serve regardless of assuming personal risks.”
The current coordinator of the Group, Pedro Manuel García Rodríguez, had words of gratitude for the volunteers who worked during the pandemic and also for each of the men and women who have joined Civil Protection, “who have in the volunteering that helped alleviate the serious health crisis the best example and pride of what it means to belong to the Group.”
García took the opportunity to recall the ongoing volunteer recruitment campaign, noting that “a great motivation is the training that volunteers receive and the human and technical resources that we have.” Diplomas were also presented at the event for the latest training received in aquatic rescue with the viewing of a video that denotes the coordination with the Local Police and the deployment of current resources.
Óscar Noda concluded his turn to speak by saying that “as mayor I have tried to ensure that the support of the Municipal Corporation has always been unconditional, providing resources for its endowment, training and mobility, providing spaces to establish the mobile park, adapting a base, in short, offering them materials, because work, the vocation of service and the heart cannot be bought with euros.”
