Since last Sunday, when the La Palma volcano erupted, hundreds of people have lost everything they owned; their houses, their land, and their possessions. Overnight they have seen how this devastating phenomenon of nature has completely changed their lives without being able to do anything to avoid it, how the lava has destroyed and buried everything they had achieved for years, with a lot of effort, hard work and dedication.
It has always been said that the Canary Islands are a land of solidarity and, at this time of adversity, they have shown it again. The islands have come together to help all the ‘palmeros’ that have been left homeless. And during the last few days, there have been many organizations, companies and entities that have volunteered to collect food, clothing and personal hygiene products to send to La Palma and help from a distance.
This is the case, for example, of the El Cabo Artistic Union, whose members are all performers in the islands carnivals, and whose premises are located in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Since Tuesday they have not stopped receiving bags with clothes, shoes, blankets and essential foods, that they have been putting in boxes to send to the people of La Palma.
In addition, they have received hundreds of calls from people from all over Tenerife who wanted to contribute to the cause. Lucía, one of the young women at the forefront of this initiative, tells us that they have even had a call from the United States to ask how they could contribute.
Another resident of Santa Cruz, Nuria, came with her husband and two children to leave several bags with clothes, shoes and toys. She says that "they didn’t think about it" and that they decided to help because they have been left with nothing, and they would not like to be in the same situation.
At the same time, Francisco was approaching with his car, an SUV, full of bags of non-perishable food and personal hygiene products. He said that he had spent the morning in a supermarket and had spent 150 euros.
It’s great to see that the people of Tenerife have turned to help La Palma, a massive response that, without a doubt, gives you goosebumps and has made more than one shed a tear.
The group is continuing tirelessly to collect, sort, and send as much as they can to support the people of La Palma, and have now made another appeal. They asking for urgent help from volunteers and transport companies to take the merchandise to La Palma, as they can’t cope with the volume.
In the meantime, La Palma is overwhelmed with the response of the other islands, and the institutions have requested that the shipment of new underwear, bedding, socks, towels, personal hygiene products, pillows, footwear, non-perishable food and animal feed be prioritized over clothes.
An official fund has been set up by the Ayuntamiento de Los Llanos de Aridane for the public to donate to if they want to show their support to the cause as follows:
