There seems to have been a shift in the fortunes of the Dar tal-Providenza home for disabled persons, but the battle is far from over.

A few weeks ago the Siggiewi home announced that it had registered a profit of around Lm130,000 in 2005. But this only served to reduce the losses that had accumulated in the previous three years. Between 2002 and 2004, the homes’ losses had reached a staggering Lm713,000; this figure has now been brought down to Lm582,000.

To achieve these results, it was not just a matter of raising more funds in aid of the home. The home managed to also cut down its administration costs by Lm50,000 during the year in question, and this no doubt helped its overall results.

But there is a limit to how much cost-cutting exercises can help, and therefore more emphasis must be made on collecting more funds. There was a time when the home needed a few hundred liri a day to cover its costs. Today, the home needs a few thousand liri every day. To give one example, the home’s director Mgr Lawrence Gatt said that the salary bill totals more than Lm1 million a year.

Over the years, it has become increasingly more difficult for the home to make ends meet. Whereas, in its early years, the Siggiewi home was the first to come to mind when people wanted to give a contribution towards a worthy cause, today it has to compete with many other worthy “adversaries”.

Fund-raising activities have increased in number and frequency, and the home has found itself in direct competition with other causes, which also do their best to raise money. The fact that political parties joined the fray and hold fund-raising events on a regular basis has not helped the home either.

Many of these other activities give out thousands of liri worth of prizes in return for contributions, and more people have opted to donate what they can during such events in the hope of winning a car or a holiday. The publicity machine for such activities is strong too, and this has shifted the goal posts.

One major fund-raising activity which provided the Dar tal-Providenza with much needed cash every year – the Kerygma Movement volleyball marathon that used to be held in August – is no longer part of the calendar and Mgr Gatt said that there have not been any developments in this respect.

Of course, the RTK fund-raising marathon in aid of the Dar tal-Providenza, that is held at the beginning of each year, goes a long way in helping the home survive. But this is held right after l-Istrina, which is certainly the biggest fund-raising event of the year. It would be a good idea to slot the RTK marathon at a different time in the year if it is felt that more money could be raised. Maybe Easter-time, which is not associated with any fund-raising activity, could be ideal.

Although public fund-raising events provide a lot of money for the home, a good chunk of the cash needed by Dar tal-Providenza arrives in the form of private donations. This should be encouraged and more people should feel the urge to send out a cheque to the home, at least once a year.

Providence does not only mean money, and in this respect Mgr Gatt also called on professional people such as doctors and lawyers to give their services to the home for free.

In this way, the Dar tal-Providenza could further cut down on its expenses and use the money saved for other purposes. Voluntary work is the heart and soul of such organisations, and the Siggiewi home deserves all the help it can get in this regard.