#HelpThemRead Charity Drive by RE/MAX & Friends

Earlier this month, the RE/MAX & Friends Foundation launched a Charity Drive to purchase reading equipment for more than 67visually-impaired, thus enabling them to read. The Charity Drive is being supported by the President’s Trust and the National Literacy Association.

The Foundation –together with 27 local RE/MAX real estate offices, located around the Maltese Islands –is organising a series of mini-charity events to raise funds to help the President’s Trust reach its target of €96,000, which would sufficiently fully finance the purchase of this much-needed equipment.

The RE/MAX & Friends Foundation was set up in 2014 and to focus primarily on fundraising for local children that suffer from chronic illness. It has since contributed to several major NGOs in Malta, including providing financing for the indoor and outdoor play area of the Rainbow Ward at the Sir Anthony Oncology Ward located at Mater Dei.

The #HelpThemRead campaign is an initiative originating from a sub-committee formed by the foundation to represent the RE/MAX Malta franchise owners, managers, associates and staff. “We created a subcommittee so that our peoplehave a voice as to what events and causes we should support,” says Jeffrey Buttigieg, a member of the RE/MAX & Friends Foundation Board. “This has resulted in amazing support from our people, the community and local authorities in assisting us to raise funds for these visually impaired children.”

Over the past few weeks, RE/MAX offices have already planned and organised a number of fundraising activities to ensure that the target is reached. Among them, RE/MAX Central in Naxxarheld a bake sale, wherein associates and employees of the company baked all sorts of recipes and sold them from outside their offices. Meanwhile, the RE/MAX Alliance Pieta teamed up with Danny’s Kitchen & Deli at the recent Craft Beer Festival and collected funds there for every burger sold. Finally, RE/MAX Central organised a Bingo Event at Hilltop Gardens in Naxxar.

“We are so grateful to our teams for their enthusiasm and dedica- tion to the Foundation; the results are really bearing fruit,” continues Mr Buttigieg. “Together we look forward to the day when visually-impaired children in Malta can enjoy reading just like their peers. We encourage the general public to get in touch and to get involved with Foundation activities where possible.”

A number of companies have also contributed to the success of the #HelpThemRead campaign, including Eighty-Eight Ltd, a bespoke branding firm for the concept and artworks,as well as Jugs, the event organising company, whichhas offered full support for thesecharity events.

There are a number of events that will be organised over the next few weeks that may be followed by logging onto the RE/MAX & Friends Facebook Page ( www.facebook.com/REMAXAndFriends/). Anybody interested in attending any of these events will find the full details in the Events Section.