Mimics and prizes galore on L-Istrina today

Several well-known personalities will today embark on a marathon of mimicry to help collect money on the annual Christmas charity programme l-Istrina.

Simone Cini will debut as a singer, John Montanaro will impersonate Kylie Minogue, Fabrizio Faniello will double up as a ballerina, Xandru will bare all (well not exactly all) in the Full Monty, John Demanuele plans to be a Ricky Martin lookalike, while Fr Colin Apap hopes to get away with being Cher.

The General Workers' Union, led by its general secretary Tony Zarb, will kick off the 10-hour marathon which is organised on a voluntary basis by Where's Everybody and aired on TVM between 1 p.m. and midnight.

Peppi Azzopardi, who was yesterday rushing from one office to the next to deal with last-minute hitches, hoped that people would dig deep into their pockets to help the worthy cause.

This year the Malta Community Chest Fund will receive 50 per cent of the proceeds; 20 per cent will go to Razzett tal-Hbiberija; 20 per cent to Life Cycle for the renal unit; five per cent to Moviment Missjunarju Gesu fil-Proxxmu and another five per cent to the Jesuits' Refugee Service for children with Aids in Brazil.

Each year, a specific selection committee led by Magistrate Jacqueline Padovani Grima decides which organisation should receive the money collected.

In the past few years l-Istrina has been an unifying event where politicians have put aside their differences and worked hand in hand to help those in need.

Was Mr Azzopardi saddened by the fact that the Labour Party had chosen to boycott the event for the second consecutive year and instead chose to organise its own fund-raising campaign one day before l-Istrina?

"This fact does not make me sad because I think at the end of the day l-Istrina still unites the public - people are stronger than any political party," he said.

While a record number of gifts, worth Lm135,000, will be given out during the programme, and Mr Azzopardi hopes that they will also collect a record number of donations.

Last year a record sum, Lm476,000, was taken in and though no target had been established for this year, Where's Everybody is hoping to at least match the amount.

Mr Azzopardi maintained that l-Istrina, which has been organised for the past eight years, was not in competition with any other campaigns.

He also fully agreed with the Archbishop's Christmas message that those who organised fund-raising campaigns had to stop themselves from falling into the trap of competing on who collected what.

Mr Azzopardi also said that great care had been taken in the filming of clips of persons with disabilities to ensure nobody was offended.

Last year, National Commission for Persons with Disabilities chairman Joe Camilleri had criticised the clips shown on l-Istrina showing sick and disabled people as "highly insulting" and "a calculated assault on people's emotions".

"We were always very careful, but this year we went the extra mile to ensure that we portray the reality of the situation while steering clear of the image of miskina (poor thing)," Mr Azzopardi said.

He said he had great faith in the generosity of the public and several companies and organisations had collected money during their staff parties for l-Istrina.

Representatives will today be going on air to hand out these donations.

"We are encouraging those who are not presenting such donations to follow the show from home and call in to give their donation and win prizes," he said.

Several groups have also embarked on different events to collect money in the run-up to the show, including a group of six divers who organised a 48-hour diving marathon at the Coastline which ends today.

Meanwhile, President and Mrs de Marco will be among the various VIPs rolling up their sleeves to help the numerous volunteers who make this show a reality.