- The award winners include the Theodora Foundation, San Juan de Dios Hospital, AFATE and Sofia Association
- Children's health and well-being, mental illness and intellectual disability awarded
The Theodora Foundation, San Juan de Dios Hospital, Sofia Association for the Promotion of Healthy Living Habits and Eating Disorder Aid, and the Association of Relatives and Caregivers of People with Alzheimer's and Other Dementias in Tenerife (AFATE) were the winners of Fundación Cepsa's Social Value Awards in the Canary Islands, following the jury's deliberations today, Wednesday November 8, at the Cepsa facilities in Tenerife's capital.
The jury selected the four entities for their work in promoting the inclusion and well-being of vulnerable people or groups. The awarded fields in this edition were children's health and well-being, intellectual disability and mental illness.
The Minister of Employment, Social Policy and Housing of the Canary Islands Government, Cristina Valido, presided over the jury, which also included MCP Rafael Yanes (represented at the meeting by his Deputy, Beatriz Barrera); the Councillors for Social Action of the Cabildos of Tenerife and Gran Canaria, Coromoto Yanes and Carmen Luz Vargas; Oscar García and Jacinto Ortega, councillors for Social Affairs of the capital city councils of both islands; Beatriz Sicilia, head of the Tenerife Solidarity Program; and José Manuel Fernández-Sabugo, director of Cepsa in the Canary Islands and representative of Fundación Cepsa in the Islands.
A total of 64 non-profit Canary Islands organizations vied this year for the Social Value Awards, whose projects have been supported by the same number of Cepsa employees in the archipelago, who have acted as solidarity sponsors.
Since they were established in the Canary Islands archipelago in 2008, these awards have contributed to the development of 41 projects of various kinds, with an endowment of 329,000 euros to date, to which the four winning projects of this year must be added. The winners will be sharing the 50,000 euros in prizes.
Award-winning projects
The ‘Acerca-TEC: Technology and Communication to Bring the World Closer Together’ project, presented by San Juan de Dios Hospital, seeks to bring technology to disabled people who, due to different circumstances, have never had the chance to use and/or enjoy many of these technologies. One of the lines of action will be to provide digital media and training to the group of users who have more restricted communication, giving them access to devices that allow them to expand their decision-making and communication capabilities.
For its part, the Sofía Association is promoting healthy living habits among children aged 6-12 in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, through the ‘Healthy Breakfast’ program, which seeks to promote improved eating habits. The objective is to educate children, protect their health, prevent the development of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), improve their quality of life and also reduce the rate of childhood obesity in the province.
The 'Barrio Solidario' program of the Association of Relatives and Caregivers of People with Alzheimer's and Other Dementias in Tenerife (AFATE) will support and advise residents of the Distrito Salud-La Salle neighborhoods who are at risk of suffering from Alzheimer's or other dementias, in order to avoid increased dependency. This project focuses on volunteers, who will receive training and advice so that they can provide aid and support to their sick neighbors, as well as their relatives and caregivers.
Finally, the Theodora Foundation will be rolling out a project called 'Healing Smiles', which consists of two action programs in hospitals via 'Smile Doctors'. It will also implement a program, 'Programa Planta', which will organize individual visits to hospitalized children for emotional relief, and the 'Surgery Buddies Program' (AQUI), aimed at reducing the stress level of children who have to undergo surgery.
Canary Islands candidates for the `Special Employee Award´
The jury selected two candidates from among the awardees for the `Special Employee Award', an additional award given by Cepsa professionals working in the countries where the Fundación Cepsa operates, namely Spain, Portugal, Colombia and Brazil. These are the ALDIS Association for the Prevention and Healing of Childhood Illnesses, and the Nuevo Futuro Las Palmas Association of Homes for Children Deprived of a Family Environment.
From the 14 projects that will compete for this award, two for each area, Cepsa professionals will choose three winners, who will share 30,000 euros to launch their initiatives. Their names will be announced in mid-December.