President pleasantly surprised with l-Istrina 2011

President George Abela still cannot believe that l-Istrina 2011 broke all past records and collected €2,566,539 in 12 hours.

Addressing the press at the San Anton Palace, the Maltese President who took l-Istrina under his wings was lost for words when coming to describe yesterday's fund-raising charity event.

"I was surprised to see that in just 12 hours we collected €2 million," Abela admitted, explaining that some €500,000 had been collected during other activities. "The cold weather and rain did not stop people from coming at the palace even after midnight, while the phones kept ringing."

The President said organizing l-Istrina at the Palace might have been one of the attracting factors despite the weather. Another factor could have been the beneficiaries sharing their own experience:

"It wasn't about self-pity but about courage and hope. They came to us and insisted they should recall their experience because they too wanted to be of help too."

Abela said he felt the Maltese made l-Istrina "their own" and understood who is really benefitting from the donations.

"I will never forget Clayton's words, which for me have become the motto of this event," Abela said, referring to one of the persons benefitting from the donations. "He said that donations are an investment of the people. And that is what we are doing here. Helping them to live the way they want."

The President says the credibility of l-Istrina lies in the Maltese feeling for others: "The sense of unity and harmony leads the Maltese to empathise with others. Solidarity is the result of unity and harmony. It is what the public wants, what it yearns for. It wants to be united behind one good cause."

Abela explained it was not easy to hold the event at the Palace, and described it as a "challenge". Behind the event was the work of over 2,000 volunteers while audit firms provided their services for free to monitor the funds as they came in.

The President said the next step was not only to carry audit work and divide the donations accordingly, but the Malta Community Chest Fund will look into whether more individuals could benefit from the donations, apart from the 33 beneficiaries.

According to producer Fabian Mizzi and main co-coordinator Mark Mallia, the challenge not only laid in choosing a different and original venue, but also the day on which to hold it. The two explained how Boxing Day of seven years ago had come on a Monday, resulting in a flop in money raised when compared to other years.

"Some said we should hold it on Christmas Day, get people in the spirit, while others said it should be held on Monday as tradition of the date called for. In the end we decided to hold a survey - around April or May - in which the absolute majority of the respondents chose Boxing Day," Mallia said.

The two admitted the hype could already be felt during the run-up to l-Istrina, especially after the President's charity fun run.

And if the l-Istrina crew thought holding the event on a Monday would not be a success, they were soon proved wrong when the counter clock started measuring four hits per second - which means four donations coming in every second.

Even though not even 24 hours have passed since l-Istrina ended, the President is already planning for the fund-raising event at the Dar tal-Providenza. He is confident that since l-Istrina did well, so will be the one held for the Siggiewi residence.