Dar il-Providenza, the well-known home for people with disability, is facing serious financial difficulties as funds from inheritances have taken a nose dive in recent years. The home has been running at a Lm200,000+ deficit for quite some time, reaching Lm300,000 last year.

The home’s director Mgr Lawrence Gatt addressed a press conference yesterday, along with accountant Arthur Zammit Lupi and administrator Anton Vella, to give an overview of the home’s financial situation.

So far the home has managed to compensate for the negative balance through back-up funds it had saved over the years when the situation was more favourable. However, given the staggering Lm1.5 million it is costing to run the home on a yearly basis, unless things change, the home will soon be facing substantial financial problems. Donations derived through the wills of benefactors had diminished considerably in recent years.

Projections for this year suggest a similar balance as that of last year – Lm300,000 in the red or thereabouts. However, the back-up funds have almost run out. The home employs 235 people full time, which account for a staggering Lm1.1 million of the total administrative cost. “We’re lucky that there are some 120 volunteers to complement the workforce, because otherwise the situation would be worse,” Mr Anton Vella pointed out.

This year the problem is aggravated by the fact that the Kerygma volleyball marathon, which each year manages to fund-raise considerable sums in aid of Dar il-Providenza, will not be held.

There are currently some 125 residents at the home who live in a family-like ambience of groups of four to five. The lodging provides an ability centre, kitchens, laundry, dining and meeting rooms, a gym and a workshop.

Since it was set up in 1965, the home has carried on through thick and thin. However, this time the situation seems to be greatly concerning the administration.

Once admitted, all the residents – whether on a permanent or temporary basis – go through a programme specially suited and adapted to the individual needs of the person.

The home’s programme has been developed over the past 14 years by trained staff and eventually led to another one of Dar il-Providenza’s milestones, which is the Zernieq residence.

In this residence, five of the home’s former residents now live on their own, together with a support worker.