Bancosol Marbella (or what we were up to last weekend!)
It’s that wonderful time of year when everyone starts salivating about all the delicious delicacies they’ll be savouring over Christmas. However, what many people might not be aware of is that there are some families even in Marbella who rely on food banks to fill their fridges over the festive period. Just last weekend for example, the charity Bancosol Alimentos held its annual ‘Big Collection’ across the town’s supermarkets, which involves customers donating what they can to the charity when they do their weekly shop.
Among the hundreds of volunteers in Marbella helping with this annual appeal were a team from Residencia Estates and the Marbella Dutch Business Club. Last Saturday and Sunday they were at the Mercadona supermarket in Elviria, just as they were last year, talking to customers and raising awareness of the important work of the charity. Bancosol Alimentos, whose Marbella branch is based in Nueva Andalucía, estimates that around 12,000 local residents rely on them for food handouts. After the food is collected from the town’s supermarkets, it is then distributed v
ia hundreds of volunteers to social centres around the area including: foster homes, day care centres, soup kitchens, childcare and youth centres, nursing homes, churches and local charities including Horizonte Proyecto Hombre Marbella, Cáritas, and Asociación Ser Humano Marbella.
According to Carlos de la Torre Zamora, the Marbella co-ordinator of Bancosol Alimentos, the generosity of locals means that they usually have enough food to keep up with the demand at Christmas, yet the 75-year-old retired pharmacist explained that they always need olive oil, baby milk, sugar and nappies. He added that donations of perishable foods such as fruit or vegetables are discouraged, as the charity does not have refrigerators to keep them cool. So if you feel like getting involved in the local community and making a difference this Christmas, why not volunteer for a few hours or donate some items of food to this worthwhile charity?