Home for disabled makes a million, but it’s not enough...

Id-Dar tal-Providenza broke last year’s all-time record through Tuesday’s fundraising marathon when more than €1 million flooded in to help the 98 disabled residents. But this is just one third of the annual amount that the respite home needs to operate. According to director Martin Micallef, the home needs €3.5 million a year – approximately €10,000 a day. Operating from three blocks in Siġġiewi and Qawra, it houses 98 people with mental and physical disabilities on a permanent basis and provides respite services to an additional 65. Apart from the 150 regular volunteers, it employs 204 people on a part- and full-time basis, and most of the expenses – €2 million – go towards the salaries of these employees. Another €500,000 is spent on maintenance, €500,000 on food, and another €500,000 to improve the home’s infrastructure. The home’s expenses would be higher without the volunteers, and would increase if benefactors did not provide food on a regular basis. At Id-Dar tal-Providenza there is also a community of four nuns of Santa Giovanna Antide Thouret who have been providing medical care since the home was set up by Dun Mikiel Azzopardi in 1965. On Tuesday, Id-Dar tal-Providenza...