The male quarters at the San Blas Therapeutic Community Centre in the limits of Zebbug will undergo major refurbishment works with the support of 'The Marigold Foundation - BOV in the Community'.

At the San Blas Centre residents follow residential drug rehabilitation programmes. The current building, which has housed the San Blas Therapeutic Community for the past 30 years, goes back to the time of the British forces' presence in Malta. Few improvements were undertaken on the buildings and its amenities and it has now reached a point where it requires a major refurbishment to provide highest standards and full dignity for residents undertaking these programmes.

'The Marigold Foundation - BOV in the Community', was set up by Bank of Valletta and Mrs Michelle Muscat, spouse of the Prime Minister, in 2014 to support philanthropic causes related to social behavior, health issues, special needs and education.

Over the last five years the Foundation has been instrumental in a number of key social projects, empowering people in various areas of our society, to work towards a better understanding of their conditions, raise existing standards and attain their goals. The San Blas project reflects the Bank's and Marigold's strong commitment towards the community in general and drug-rehabilitation in particular.

Speaking about this project, Caritas Director Anthony Gatt said "The San Blas Therapeutic Centre offers a safe and secure environment 24 hours a day. Rehabilitation does not just restore the physical body but holistically helps the person to heal and grow psychologically, emotionally and socially. Mind body and spirit are all addressed. We firmly believe that the greatly improved facilities will have a positive impact on the psychology of residents and will be more conducive therapeutically. The refurbished premises will also allow for increasing capacity and making the premises fully accessible".

"We take this opportunity to express our heartfelt appreciation to Bank of Valletta and 'The Marigold Foundation - BOV in the Community' for their generosity in making this project a success in line with our credo 'Help us Help Others," concluded Mr Gatt.

"The Marigold Foundation believes in giving people in our communities a second chance." This was stated by Marigold Foundation co-founder and Chairperson Mrs Michelle Muscat. "Marigold's commitment towards Caritas and the people it helps, tops our agenda this year and we are looking forward to be of support in this long term project and to also offer our personal time and efforts to build friendships with the residents who often might feel ostracised from society."

This project will be fully funded by the Marigold Foundation with additional financial support from Bank of Valletta, its Directors, Executives and Employees.

"When approached with this project, the members of the BOV board of directors and a number of bank executives immediately agreed to assist and donate their remuneration from directorships to ensure the success of this project," said BOV Chairman Deo Scerri. "Caritas depends heavily on the generosity of the community to be able to offer the highest possible level of service to those who resort to them for assistance. The Maltese community is at the heart of BOV. It is the community in which we operate and we are duty bound to assist in such projects."

"We shall be augmenting this donation through the 'BOV Cards for Charity Campaign', which will be launched today, whereby every time our customers use their CashlinkMALTA or Cashlink Visa cards at retail outlets, BOV shall be making a donation that goes towards this project, without any cost to themselves or the retail outlet," reiterated BOV CEO Mario Mallia. Furthermore our staff shall also be participating through a number of internal initiatives, proceeds of which will also go towards this project."