It is truly remarkable how the country manages to outdo itself year after year when it comes to donating to l-Istrina. This shows just how united we can be as a country, despite our sometimes bitter political and social divides, and how, when united, we can overcome just about any challenge placed before us.
As matters stand, the Malta Community Chest Fund is the only national fund that gives financial support to patients suffering from serious illnesses to undergo specialised chemotherapy and treatments for rare or chronic diseases.
Those funds, or lack thereof, affect those people and their families on the deepest of levels. And the MCCF helps them in their hours of greatest need, when they are suffering and their lives and families are in a state of complete turmoil.
It has been questioned why, given our welfare state, those who are sick and in need have to resort to charity for the treatment they so direly need. Nevertheless, until this situation is addressed by the powers that be, rely they must on the Community Chest Fund.
L-Istrina is about saving lives and if those lives cannot be saved despite the best of efforts, the aim is to give them a better quality of life when they are at their most vulnerable, and to provide some peace of mind for their families; families whose lives have been turned upside down, sometimes forever.
Helping these people is what l-Istrina is all about, and that is what the MCCF is all about.
And this Boxing Day people in their several of thousands spared a thought and some hard-earned money for those less fortunate in generous stead, surpassing all records to top the €7 million mark over a million more than in the previous year.
The festive Season is indeed the time of year to embrace your fellow citizens, to lend a helping hand to those in need and to show unity, but it doesn’t just to at Christmas that we show our generous side.
There are so many other ways to do that, and they do not necessarily entail reaching into one’s pocket but, rather, into one’s heart. Over 250 people did just that in the three days leading up to and on Christmas, in answer to a call for donations from the national blood bank what with blood usually being in high demand over the festive season and with hundreds of people over the last week undergoing operations and transfusions.
Always in short supply, blood is the gift of life that we can keep giving all year around.
Another gift of life that lasts all year around: registering as an organ donor so that should the worst happen to befall you, your death could very well mean someone else’s life.
As matters currently stand, around 25,000 people are registered as organ donors. We can do a lot better than that, much better. One single donor can save the life of several people and improve the quality of life of many more.
In a way, donating one’s organs is the ultimate in altruism, but on the other hand it takes no altruism at all considering the fact that when the times comes to donate we certainly have no more need of those organs.
At last week’s traditional Milied Flimkien gathering, President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca highlighted the importance of altruism and appealed for more blood and organ donations. Students at the event also spoke about the importance of organ donations, and the difference it can make to other individuals lives.
Let us take their cue: generosity is not only financial and for l-Istrina time. It can take many forms but what better gift to give than the gift of life and health that only blood and organ donations can deliver?