This year the Tenerife Entertainment Awards, which were held for the first time in two years on Sunday 5th December at the Castillo San Miguel, organised a campaign called ‘Bring A Toy’ asking people to bring a present for children in orphanages and juvenile centres across the south of Tenerife, and those in La Palma who lost everything due to the volcanic eruption on the island.
The event, which is organised by EmCan Media, who also own Oasis Fm and Canarian Weekly, saw over 500 presents donated by individuals and some companies that really got behind the campaign. John Zammit, who oversaw it, said “The response was overwhelming. We received far more than we ever thought we would, and are very thankful for everyone’s generosity during this difficult time.”
“One company based in Las Chafiras called Can Do Company Support SL, had a collection amongst staff, family, and friends, and were the first ones at the doors of the castle with sack loads of gifts, for which we are very thankful” John added.
Torben and Michelle from Can Do with presents collected by the company
During the Awards, Martyn Howells, from Amigos de Gillian Banks, was on hand to separate the toys donated into piles of new toys and piles of previously owned toys, for the various different charities involved.
On Tuesday afternoon, all of the toys were collected for distribution, the new ones were taken to La Palma on Wednesday to be handed out by the Red Cross to the children and families that have lost their homes and possessions, and the rest were collected by local charities in the south of Tenerife.
On Friday, Santa was on hand to visit centres in Arona and hand out presents to children, as you can see by the main photo above. Distribution has happened now at many of these centres; however, photos are very difficult as strict permission is needed from the centres, and in some cases, from social services due to the vulnerable situation of the children, but be rest assured that their faces when they receive a gift, is priceless.
We also need to make a special mention for the person that donated an X-Box 360 with games, which has been donated to the El Vaito centre in Arona, to be used in their youth centre where all the kids will get to play with it and join in together.
Once again, we would like to thank every single person that took the time to ‘Bring A Toy’, which is already making Christmas special this year for kids across the island.
