This year’s fund-raising activity in aid of Dar tal-Providenza, on January 1 under a big tent in Siġġiewi, is being called a Feast of Generosity. Fr Martin Micallef, director of the home, said Maltese and Gozitans alike would begin the new year by showing who and what they were: a generous nation that could indeed practise solidarity.
Besides providing care for 98 people with disability living at Dar tal-Providenza and Dar Żerniq in Siġġiewi and the new Dar l-Akkwarell in Qawra, the home also offers respite to families having one or more members with disability. This year, the home offered respite to 66 families.
About 500 volunteers will be lending a helping hand on the day and visitors can join a guided tour from 3pm to witness first hand both the completed works and those still in progress.
The day will kick off with a Eucharistic celebration at 9am in the chapel of the complex, which will be screened live on various local TV stations. From 10am onwards, there will be transmissions of interviews and features, including the newly-opened Dar l-Akkwarell, as well as a marathon spectacle of song and dance.
There will also be the annual art auction, organised by RTK 4 Charity and supported by Obelisk Auctions, in aid of Dar tal-Providenza. This year, well over 70 local and foreign artists have donated one or more works of art to be auctioned, including a sculpture in bronze by the late Anton Agius.
These will be on display at the Mdina Cathedral Museum until Thursday. The exhibition is open Monday to Friday (excluding Sundays and Christmas Day) between 9.30am and 4.30pm, and on Saturday between 9.30am and 3.30pm. On New Year’s Day, the works of art will be on display at Dar tal-Providenza.
The auction will be held on-line at www.dartalprovidenzaauctions.com. One can bid by phone or by going to the home in person on the day. One can also view a catalogue of artistic works at www.dartalprovidenza.org.
A park-and-ride service, which will be available from Triq San Niklaw (the old airfield) to and from Dar tal-Providenza, will operate between 2 and 10pm.
For the benefit of those who cannot visit Dar tal-Prtovidenza, the feast will also be broadcast live on most local TV stations. Donations may be made at Dar tal-Providenza, RTK Studios in Blata l-Bajda as well as by phone or SMS.
There will be other fund-raising activities taking place in the following weeks:
On Friday, a football tour-nament will take place at St Aloysius College sports ground in Birkirkara, featuring four teams made up of MPs, the Union Ħaddiema Maqgħudin, the General Workers’ Union and the Confederation of Malta Trade Unions.
On Saturday, youths from Gudja will be organising an activity in conjunction with other youths from Valletta and Sliema.
On January 2, a marathon of children’s choirs will take place between 3 and 7pm under the big tent in Siġġiewi.