Residents, volunteers and staff of the San Blas Rehabilitation Centre put their fingers to good use when they picked 800 kilos of olives from the vicinity of the Zebbug residence.

About 80 individuals, including residents and helpers from the Attard parish, spent two days picking the olives from 80 trees.

And the effort paid off - some 300 bottles of olive oil were bottled, courtesy of Cremona of Wardija, which agreed to press, bottle and label the olives.

The oil was offered against a donation to parents and relatives of the residents, as well as staff members.

San Blas offers a holistic drug rehabilitation service to abusers of illicit drugs seeking a better life within society. It also hosts members from broken families or those that have suffered abuse.

Fr Alex Cordina, Caritas assistant director, was especially pleased with the olive oil initiative, something the community intends to repeat every year. In fact, since then, the San Blas residents have been tending to the trees to ensure a bigger pick next season.

Fr Cordina said the initiative was one of many taken by Caritas to help the community.

"The people there, broken by their stormy life on drugs, learn to live, mature, heal and become strong."