These are the projects that apply for the Family Grant 2021

Five projects have been presented this year as candidates for the Family Grant. For some years now, at the Royal Son Bou Family Club we have been promoting projects related to child protection in a wide range of areas. And we give them a boost with a financial contribution of 3,000 euros and the dissemination of the cause through our channels.
The Family Grant is a very special way of committing ourselves to the group that most represents our guests: the children staying at the Royal Son Bou. In 2021, the Family Grant will be allocated to one of the following projects:

Sponsorship of a clown at the Mateu Orfila Hospital

Sonrisa Médica is an association that has been spreading joy among the youngest patients in hospitals for 27 years. And it does so through its hospital clowns. A profession that, as they themselves say, is "extremely difficult".

What makes the hospital clown a special clown? First of all, he has an enormous capacity to see the good in everything and to face adversity with the most intelligent tool: humour. In addition, the clown is able to overcome frustration with a positive and enviable emotional state.

In recent months, due to the pandemic, hospital clowns have had to reinvent themselves and bring their work closer to the public through screens. But recently, the clowns have returned to Mateu Orfila Hospital.

With the Family Grant, Sonrisa Médica could sponsor a clown for the first three months of 2022. And continue to carry out work which, in 2020, benefited 2,605 people, including children, family members and companions.

Jaume Riera Pons, the story of a wonderful boy

Jaume Riera Pons is a 4-year-old boy from Menorca who suffers from Congenital Epiphyseal Spondyloepiphyseal Dysplasia, a condition classified as a rare disease due to its low incidence: 1 in 200,000 people are born with this condition. This genetic condition causes symptoms such as short stature, restrictive chest, hearing problems, malformation of the spine and hips, or respiratory and eating problems, among others.

In Jaume's case, moreover, Congenital Epiphyseal Spondyloepiphyseal Dysplasia is aggravated by another ailment: cancer. When he was 6 months old, they had to remove a neuroblastoma, which has to be controlled with regular visits to the oncologist.

Jaume's family goes out of their way to help him in any way they can. In fact, his mother has even had to stop working in order to take care of him. With the Family Grant, Jaume's parents could pay for part of his treatments.

Programme of reception flats and psychosocial support for displaced families with a child with cancer

Since 1987, ASPANOB, the Balearic Association of Parents of Children with Cancer, has been helping to improve the quality of life of these children. Among the projects they carry out, there are the foster flats in Palma and Barcelona, where parents who have to accompany their children when they need to receive treatment are accommodated.

The project that ASPANOB has presented for this 2021 to the Family Grant could benefit all families with a son or daughter affected by an oncohematological disease and residing in Menorca. The project is aimed at children from 0 to 18 years of age as well as those over 18 who suffered from the disease during the first stage of their lives. So far

in 2021, 18 users have already been cared for in the reception flats, 9 of whom are children.
With the Family Grant, ASPANOB aims to cover part of the maintenance costs of one of its flats in Barcelona, which does not involve any cost for the users.

Integral project of shelter and psychosocial help for sick displaced children in Menorca

ASAMDIB is the Association of Aid to the Displaced Sick of the Balearic Islands, which was created in 2011 as a result of the high demand for requests from ASPANOB, the association that was the origin of this project. Its mission is to welcome, care for and provide all kinds of resources to patients of any pathology and age residing in the Balearic Islands who have to move from their usual residence because of their condition.

ASAMDIB's project in Menorca focuses mainly on children and young people with any pathology except oncological ones, which are referred to ASPANOB. Due to the fact that Menorca is an island, the journeys for treatment of serious illnesses such as cancer are frequent. Especially from the smaller islands to Mallorca, where the autonomous community's reference hospital is located. Or even to the mainland, if the illness and the treatment require very specific attention.

Until the end of October 2021, the ASAMDIB service has benefited 163 users in Menorca, of which 80 were sick people and 83 companions.

With the Family Grant, ASAMDIB would be able to pay part of the rent of the reception flat in which the patients, their families and carers are accommodated, and which is completely free for all applicants.

Asturias for Africa

Asturias for África is a development cooperation NGO that presents a project for the construction of a hygiene and sanitation infrastructure in the educational community of Kerr Ngorr Nyang, in Africa.

More than 30 years ago, there was a push to build schools in rural areas of The Gambia to tackle the country's extremely high illiteracy rates. The village of Kerr Ngorr Nyang is historically isolated from the rest of the country, separated from the main population centres by the river that gives the country its name. As a result, it suffers not only social but also structural neglect. In this context, a major storm on 21 July left the local school almost completely destroyed, and other buildings were also affected.

The Asturias for Africa project aims to rebuild the hygiene and sanitation infrastructure with the construction of eight toilets for the children of the Kerr Ngorr Nyang school, equipped with a septic tank. The aim of this very specific action is to ensure proper hygiene in the educational environment of this community. Especially since the highest infant mortality rates in Gambia are caused by diarrhoeal diseases.

This action could directly benefit 341 pupils, up to 1,500 people if the indirect beneficiaries, who are the people living in the villages closest to this school, are counted.

On 16 November, the winner of the Family 2021 Grant will be announced, who will receive 3,000 euros to invest in the project presented.