Updated: Adds new video
President George Abela this morning made a strong appeal for businesses to give generously this year for l-Istrina fund-raising campaign.
Speaking at a press conference, Dr Abela said his chairmanship of the Community Chest Fund and his recent visit to Maltese people undergoing medical treatment in the UK had impressed on him the need for more assistance to be given to people in need.
He said that he did not view this as charity, but as solidarity with people who had a right to live a decent life.
In some cases, he said, assistance even helped to prolong people's lives.
L-Istrina will reach its highlight on Boxing Day with an all-day TV marathon. The event is this year being wholly organised by the Malta Community Chest Fund (MCCF), which has taken over from PBS.
The MCCF last year received €600,00 from l-Istrina, half of the proceeds raised after deduction of costs. This year it would manage all the funds and give some to other organisations.
Dr Abela said that in the first 11 months of this year, the Fund received 2,500 requests for help and issued €700,000 in assistance. He said he expected requests for help to exceed 3,000 next year.
While the government was doing what it could to help people in need, more help was needed and he was banking on the people's generosity, Dr Abela said. He, however, was also making an appeal to businesses to dig deeper into their pockets and donate cash to the campaign.
Businesses, he said, last year gave €1.5m worth of gifts for l-Istrina. The campaign would not be handing out gifts this year - because he was sure the people, once they realised the need, would donate without awaiting gifts- but he was urging businesses to also be generous through cash donations.
"This is not about charity. All people have a right to a good quality of life. Society must help those most in need, and their families, as in the case of patients who need to go abroad and need to be accompanied by members of their family in such difficult times," Dr Abela said.
The President said donations given to the political parties were completely different, and he was confident that the people would still donate to l-Istrina.
He said that while up to last year the Community Chest Fund used to depend almost exclusively on its income from l-Istrina, it was not trying to diversify its revenue streams through the organisation on new activities, a process which had to continue.