Caritas launches prevention campaign

Caritas Malta yesterday launched a national fundraising campaign based on prevention which will go on throughout the year.

The campaign, being sponsored by Telecom Service Provider UniTel, is based intensively on the media and advertising.

The adverts being used will carry pictures of children aged between 10 and 12, together with a message.

The four messages are:

¤ Mark may have a drug problem in six years' time. Help us prevent it;

¤ Maria may become infected with HIV in eight years' time. Help us prevent it;

¤ David may be a volunteer in four years' time. Help us achieve it; and

¤ Rachel has epilepsy. Her friends do not always understand her condition. Help us to alter this.

The adverts will also include information on how to give a donation via SMS, telephone, UniTel and online.

The messages were produced by Caritas Malta together with MPS Picture Box director Vince Briffa.

They are being aired on all television stations and a still version is being placed on buses and newspapers.

There will also be radio adverts, SMS alerts, email shots, mail shots, media coverage, internet banners and information slots on television programmes. UniTel is also advertising the campaign on its VoiP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) cards.

Caritas director Victor Grech told a news conference that the aim of the campaign was to create a social conscience among people.

"Everyone has to feel responsible for the good and the bad that is happening around us. We are one people, one community and we have to ensure that services continue being given to those who need them," he said.

Mgr Grech said that in his 25 years of working in the field, Caritas, which spends at least Lm350,000 a year, had never felt the need to ask people for money but it now had its back to the wall.

Agency coordinator Godfrey Kenely said Caritas Malta operated various projects, programmes and services that were a lifeline for people in need.

Caritas receives government funding to partly sustain only one of its projects, but relies heavily on sponsorships and donations from individuals and groups for its other projects. In recent years Caritas Malta has developed its existing services and launched several new ones.

Donations can be given in several different ways: through a Vodafone SMS (Lm2) on number 618022; a Go Mobile SMS (Lm2) number 5115; a normal Maltacom telephone call (Lm5) number 550049715; through the UniTel VoiP card (Lm1) number 2272 2272; and online with a credit card.

www.caritasmalta.org