Keeping up the Community Spirit
In these tough times, a great motivator is to focus on the good things that are happening. The community spirit is alive and well here in Marbella with a lot of volunteers helping the more vulnerable with food deliveries, taxi companies transporting health workers for free and such like.
Our good friends at the Costa Gaels Gaelic Football Club are never shy to get involved in anything and true to form they stepped up and surpassed all expectations.
On the 1st April Justin Parks, Chairman of the GAA club, started a fundraiser on Facebook and in less than 2 days they raised well over the expected amount. Having spoken to the local Hospital Costa Del Sol to see how best they could support them, they responded that they were desperate for “tablets”. Not that type of tablets! The technical kind; that have apps and games and movies and messaging services! Admitted patients are regularly stuck for ways of communicating with family or even just passing some time playing games or watching a movie in the hospital.
And so the Fundraiser began.
In less than 2 days a whopping €2134 was raised, along with a number of tablets being donated. What a RESULT!
We were blown away by the generosity and overall genuine concern and support received. The Fundraiser was shared around social media platforms by numerous people, fans, club members, local sports clubs and local press entities, including Marbella Mac Solutions, The Marbella Rugby Club, The Irish Midwife, Club La Costa World, The Olive Press, Sydkusten (Swedish press), PonteAlDía (Spanish press) and many more.
Justin Parks posted in response:
“Thanks for the donated tablets, for the support, the calls, the emails, the shares and the likes. Everyone of you helped make this happen and while it might not be a world changing event…it will have changed the world of some people who are suffering…and yeah, in my book that’s what counts. As we say in Ireland: #gaelic: Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir, #español: ¡Muchas gracias a todos! #english: Thank you all so very much!”
The first tablets were delivered on the 3rd April and since then JUCRA Digital have been assisting in the logistical side of things. It did take a while for the money to clear, but now that it has, we are organizing the ordering and delivery of another 8 Samsung tablets. We hope to have these delivered by early next week.
In the meantime, we have some photos and info here about the tablets already in use and how they are helping patients and staff in the hospital. It is really great to see how they are helping the local medical staff and patients get through what must be really tough days!
Long may the positivity continue, and we wish all those affected by the Corona Virus a speedy recovery and our sincere condolences to those who have lost loved ones.
