L-Istrina 2018
This year’s edition of L-Istrina – the annual telethon to raise funds for the Malta Community Chest Fund Foundation – kicked off at noon yesterday with speeches by President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne and Leader of the Opposition Adrian Delia.
The fundraiser was held at the Kirkop Sports Complex and ended at midnight.
President Coleiro Preca said that she had been to a number of activities over the preceding days where she was thanked for her work. She said she could not take all the credit, however, as the work of the Malta Community Chest Fund was a collective effort. She expressed her confidence that the televised event would result in a “celebration of generosity” and a celebration of “Maltese unity.”
Archbishop Charles J. Scicluna said that the event was the moment when everyone had to transform the spirit of Christmas into a concrete symbol of love, “as God did when he sent his Son among us.”
Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne said that he could not think of an activity which united the people more than LIstrina did. He said that he had spent 30 years operating on children and that he knew what the trauma of such procedures was like both for the children and for their families. However, he said, he was also aware of the sense of love such families felt when shown solidarity through marathons such as L-Istrina. “Money,” he said, “is important, but L-Istrina is not just about finances; it’s about hundreds of thousands of people contributing something concrete to, and showing solidarity with, these children and their families.”
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, who was not present due to being abroad, said that he was “there in spirit, like every single Maltese and Gozitan,” adding that for this year’s edition everybody needed to contribute however they could. “In the end,” he said, “we are one society and one family that needs to help those in need.”
Leader of the Opposition Adrian Delia said that people needed to open their eyes and ears to those in need and, more than that, to open their hearts and give all that they could. Delia said that the public should go the extra mile and truly show that the Maltese and Gozitans are a people with “a massive heart which loves and cares for everyone.”
By 6pm yesterday evening over €3 million had been collected