Charity on the rock by Gibraltar Rock Tours

What it means to be charitable by Gibraltar Rock Tours

Last Friday was Blue Day in Gibraltar. It was really quite touching to see all the first and middle school children come out of school at 3.15pm everyone in blue !

That prompted me to write todays blog about what a charitable lot we Gibraltarians are !

I could mention quite a few local charities off the top of my head but in recent years it seems to me that more and more charity days are taking place so I did a little research to see what some of the charities objectives are and I was surprised to find a great selection of worthy causes wein our sunny Gibraltar support.

Charity means Helps and Philanthropy is love of mankind, a nineteenth century evolutionary theorist, even proposed that philanthropic behaviours aided development of civilization and survival of the human race…… so I guess we are doing our little bit for the world too !

Blue Day is to raise awareness and funds for Childline Gibraltar. Childine is children´s support group, this group visit schools and have a 24hour telephone line available for children to express any concerns they may have.

We also have a Pink day, schools also support this charity by letting Pupils attend school in Pink instead of their uniforms for a donation of a pound for the charity, but day on Pink day most of Gibraltar is in Pink, the local Banks, businesses and shops participate too.

Pink day is in aid of Breast cancer, this is a very well supported charity, both by men and women we have dinners in pink, charity walks in Pink and money is collected for research through sales of Tshirts, Pins and braclets.

There is a wonderful group of ladies and under the title of Bussom Buddies, they organise Fashion shows and even produced acalender a couple of years ago. These ladies have all been through cancer treatment and they raise a lot of money for this worthy cause participating as models for the Fashions show.

If whilst on your tour of Gibraltar you see a wave of Yellow…..

Yes it´s another charity day many wear yellow  in aid of Mental health. This charity is fairly new just a few years old but they have done so well to create awareness and have established a very successful charity shop. They have an awareness March down Main Street once a year and enjoy a community lunch. This one is very special and greatly supported by the Government. The Chief Minister and his family all dressed in yellow t shirts for the March is great to see and last year Minister Cortes attended.

We wear Orange end of May and is organised by the Multiple Sclerosis Therapy centre.

Looks like the colour thing is becoming  a trend to me……

Fridays are the most popular charity days, you can  volunteer  to man a collection pointin town by joining an official registered charity or just give whatever you can….. every little helps. A charity like the Friends of Mount Alvernia, which is our elderly care Home have flag days.

So there are some really great causes and the whole of Gibraltar benefits from these organisations.

Speaking of which …….You can´t write about charity and not give Rotary a mention. This well known group meet at the Rock hotel in Gibraltar once a week and have organised some great events. A Santa´s Grotto at Christmas and the Santa Conga…. Last December was the Second Santa conga and I am sure this will grow to be more popular each year and we could even break the World Record if we put our minds to it. Rotary organise dinners for their members and charity auctions, the list is endless of ideas and charity events.

Movember is becoming more popular too, we get our Gibraltarian men not to shave for the month of November to create awareness for prostate cancer. There was a very original charity event on this evening, Man Vs Crème Egg.The challenge involved 15 contestants eating 10 crème eggs in the least possible time. What´s a few grown men with tummy aches this evening ?it was for a very worthy cause. Well done to all !!

Later on in the year we still have to look forward to seeing or participating in a skydive, walks, and other challenges and hopefully a repeat of the Rock Run, this was organised by the Royal Marines Charitable trust fund even  Superman came to Gibraltar and took part .The actor Henry Cavill of course, such a nice guy, his brother is a Royal marine and was happy to do his bit for charity.

A quick mention to other local charities which with their fantastic  iniciatives and dedication make a difference to so many lives in Gibraltar, in our neighbouring country and further afield, Gibmiisioninafrica, AKIN, Bonita Trust, Wobbles, women in need, Gibraltar society for cancer relief, lady William´s centre, and those who look after our Heritage like the Friends of Gibraltar or the Gibraltar heritage trust.

Our most important Charity day is the GBC Open day (Gibraltar television Marathon), all year long families and businesses, schools and sports teams ….. just about everyone gets involved and most arrange or participate in  different activities like treasure hunts, sports and talent contests and all proceeds  go towards the GBC open day which culminates in a Radio and television Marathon around Christmas time and all that´s collected is shared amongst the local charities.

So as you can see we love a community event and if we can raise money for a good cause at the same time all the better…..

Gibraltar Rock Tours is very proud to belong to a community where charity plays such an important role.Until the next time…….