Red Cross going digital in Alicante on the Costa Blanca

 
FLAG days used to be about giving some loose change to collectors in the street, but this year Alicante’s Cruz Roja (Red Cross) has decided to join the digital age. 

People will be able to make donations to street collectors on the Costa Blanca using their credit cards now the volunteers Alicante Red Cross has reported that this year’s fundraising is to “support the elderly and mitigate their loneliness,” with money being collected through 1,000 conventional collection tins as well as the digital ‘piggy banks’. 

In the province of Alicante more than 2,000 people Red Cross volunteers are involved in projects related to older people. In 2018 the charity helped 23,500 elderly people. 

In addition, the Red Cross Operations Centre in the Valencia Region, the nerve centre for coordinating services such as teleassistance, has already attended to more than 260,000 alarms. “Many of these alarms are not always emergencies such as falls and incidents, but are people who push the button because they feel alone,” said Francisco Galvañ the provincial president of the Red Cross. 

The Flag Day is being held tomorrow and Saturday (November 22 and 23) with around 1,000 volunteers taking part. In addition, several companies in the province, associations and public institutions have joined the call and will install tables and collection tins at their premises. 

This year also has the collaboration of the Association of Merchants of Calle Poeta Quintana, which will decorate the street with a Red Cross theme and members of the Association of Modernists of Alcoi who will come dressed in their period costumes to support the campaign and encourage the public to collaborate. 

Last year, the Red Cross in Alicante raised more than €26,000 to support projects for vulnerable children.