- A contribution channeled through the Food Bank of Las Palmas, which will provide around 4,500 meals for visitors in six centers
- The initiative, co-organized by the Department of Social Services, aims to provide relief and cover needs that have arisen due to the pandemic.
This action was carried out in coordination with the Department of Social Services of the City Council of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, which will help people who are currently attending the help centers located in the San Pedro, Nuestra Señora de la Paz and San Juan Bosco parishes, in the Asociación Rescate Juvenil (Youth Rescue Association), and those who visit the Nuestra Señora del Rosario and Nuestra Señora del Carmen soup kitchens.
Belén Machado, the head of Fundación Cepsa in the Canary Islands, stressed that "the situation we have been experiencing for the past year as a result of the health emergency has made charitable actions more necessary than ever, not only for the most vulnerable groups, but also for people who have suffered the effects of this crisis first hand and who are forced to ask for help to make ends meet."
Similarly, the Councilor for Social Services of the City Council of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Carmen Luz Vagas, supports this collaboration "because it will help these soup kitchens remain operational which is important because, as a result of the social/health crisis, they have seen an increased number of visitors, and they are a crucial part of the city’s support network for people who have been hit the hardest."
Pedro Llorca, president of the Food bank of Las Palmas, stated that "for our organization, these types of remarkable donations, such as the one so generously made by Fundación Cepsa, are crucial in this new COVID-19 scenario; thanks to their help we will be able to continue serving in six soup kitchens, with a total average of more than 320 diners.”
For Llorca, "these financial contributions are a further supplement that help us purchase the necessary ingredients that allow us to provide basic food for people in precarious situations. We kindly ask other companies, corporations and the general public to continue helping us reduce as much as possible the food needs of so many disadvantaged families."
Fundación Cepsa has doubled its efforts to play a bigger role in mitigating the effects of COVID-19 in the Canary Islands by supporting social entities, which it has done in the form of various actions. Among them, support for the Food Banks of Tenerife and Gran Canaria, which have received a total of €117,000 from the Foundation since the beginning of the pandemic.
