The Maltese people once again showed their enormous generosity yesterday during the now traditional appointment of l-Istrina.

Over the years, Boxing Day has become associated with this fund-raising marathon on local television stations during which money is raised for the Community Chest Fund together with a number of organisations that are selected by a special board.

L-Istrina has grown to become the largest fund-raising event of the year, but it is not the only one that is held. At this time of the year, apart from such fund-raising events aimed at people in need, the political parties also organise their own activities to raise money. On Republic Day, both the Nationalist Party and the Malta Labour Party organised fund-raising activities, and the MLP added an open weekend over Christmas to raise more funds. The yearly RTK fund-raising campaign was also a success.

There are many other fund-raising activities – some national, others local – that are held during the course of the year. The fact that in just 12 months 400,000 people can donate hundreds of thousands of liri goes to prove – if there was such a need – how generous the Maltese people can be and that we Maltese are not as poor as some would like to think we are.

Then there are the many individuals and companies who, during Christmas and at other times of the year, donate money privately to institutions that would not be able to survive were it not for such generosity.

All this shows that the Maltese are a big-hearted and openhanded people who are always ready to help those in need and also to support the political party to which they belong. While there are claims that these are difficult economic times for Malta, and that the people have less spending power, such activities reveal that whatever the circumstances, the Maltese are always ready to make their contributions in support of worthy causes and to sustain their political parties financially.

It has now also become traditional for organisations holding such fund-raising events to have several prizes, some of them worth thousands of liri, in order to entice more people into making donations.

Recent events have shown that the more quality prizes there are on offer, the more people are prepared to make their donations. Events that do not offer cars, boats, holidays, computers and mobile phones attract far fewer donations than those that do.

While it must be admitted that the intentions behind offering such top quality prizes is good, because ultimately the people in need will get more, many interpret this kind of activity as another form of gambling. Who would not trade Lm5 or Lm10 for a new car or for a holiday abroad?

The organisers defend themselves against this argument, saying that their aim is to raise as much money as possible for people in need. That’s all well and good, but on the other hand it must be said that it would be ideal for the same amount of money to be generated without having the need to offer such prizes.

This would mean that people will be ready to give what they can without aiming or hoping to get something in return for their donation. Giving something without expecting to get anything back is the best form of generosity. It would be an unselfish gesture that is aimed solely at helping other people.

Receiving a gift – or even such a little thing as a smile – makes one happy, of course, but there is far greater joy in giving that gift or smile.