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During a visit he made at the Siġġiewi Home, Dr Michael Falzon, Minister for the Family, Children’s Rights and Social Solidarity, appealed for financial help for Dar tal-Providenza however small the amount might be. He said that the residents at the Home are amongst the most vulnerable in our society and they need support especially at this time when the COVID-19 pandemic has taken over the world including Malta. “I assure you,” the Minister said, “that the satisfaction you get when giving is by far a lot more greater than when receving.”
Dr Falzon praised and thanked those that give of their free time to help persons with disabillity. He also found time to meet representatives of the workers at the Home.
On behalf of his Ministry, Dr Falzon made a donation of €1,000. The Administrator of Dar tal-Providenza, Nadine Camilleri Cassano thanked the Minister for the donation and his support of solidarity that he has shown towards the Home.

Dar tal-Providenza wishes to express its gratitude and appreciation to the legacy left behind by Mr John Paris, one of its volunteers, who on Monday 24th August 2020 went to join his Lord and Master in heaven.

John, together with his wife Ġemma, has been doing voluntary work at Dar tal-Providenza since 2012. They never missed their appointment twice, sometimes three times a week.
John spent his time doing voluntary work with the maintenance section of the Home. As soon as someone asked for help on some repair job you would see John coming with his tool box and a smile on his face to see what needed to be done.

Whenever there was a huge activity or a residents’ outing, John and his wife Ġemma would always be there to give a helping hand. On their own initiative during the past few years, they started organising on a regular basis a day’s outing for residents to the site the Boy Scouts have in Rinella Bay.

When talking to John you would immediately see how close to his heart Dar tal-Providenza was and how willingly and and so much generosity he used to do his voluntary work without any funfares. For John Dar tal-Providenza was his second family.

Last year, John and his wife Ġemma were nominated for the Active Ageing Award.

Details of his funeral will be annouced later.

Thank you, John.

May you rest in peace.

Dar tal-Providenza has received more than €560,000 in funds under the Operational Assistance Scheme. This scheme was announced by the government last June as part of its plan for economic regeneration. This donation will help the Home to soften the impact of workers’ wages and also compensate for the severe dwindling in donations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Parliamentary Secretary for Youth, Sport and Voluntary Organisations, Clifton Grima said that the government is clearly showing how important voluntary organisations are for the country. He said that voluntary organisations, through various initiatives they uphold, contribute towards Maltese society.

The Parliamentary Secretary said: “Nowadays, we have a number of organisations that employ professionals in various fields, which is in tune with what the government is doing in the social sector. This is why their recurrent expenditure is considerable. It is through such financial assistance that we are helping out Dar tal-Providenza in its operations.”

The Parliamentary Secretary said that this scheme is the biggest direct investment ever made in the voluntary sector.

The Chairman of the Maltese Council for the Voluntary Sector, Noel Camilleri, said that through the work of the Council and with the appropriate intervention of the Parliamentary Secretary Clifton Grima, these funds were released to assist workers in the voluntary sector.

The Administrator of Dar tal-Providenza, Nadine Camilleri Cassano, explained that the pandemic meant that the Home had an increase in costs in order to safeguard the wellbeing and security of its residents as well as that of its employees. At the same time, the pandemic also led to a shrinking in donations, particularly those that come from fundraising activities organised by the Home and by other organisations. She said that nevertheless, the Home wanted to ensure the highest level of service so that its residents in the Siġġiewi Home as well as in homes in the community live in the dignlty they deserve.

On his part, Jesmond Saliba thanked Mr Mauro Pace Parascandalo, the Parliamentary Secretary Clifton Grima and all those involved who were instrumental that the financial help materialises at a time when once again, in the light of the risks and increased pandemic cases, planned fundraising activities had to be cancelled.

This fund is administered by the Maltese Council for the Voluntary Sector with the aim of ensuring the existence of these organisations and giving them a breath of life to continue their precious work, work that was affected negatively both in their operations as well as in their fundraising.

Steward Health Care’s headquarters in the Unites States has donated over 50,000 disposable face masks to Id-Dar tal-Providenza to support the efforts made by the Home to contain the spread of the virus and protect its residents and employees.

This was part of a larger donation of 100,000 face masks to be used in the Gozitan and Maltese communities, especially by vulnerable people, so as to help in the prevention of the spread of COVID-19.

The masks were donated during an event held at Steward Health Care Malta’s offices which was presided by Dr Nadine Delicata, Executive Director and President of Steward Health Care Malta.

Dr Delicata said that this donation from Steward US underpins the importance of the message that, while restrictions have been lifted, everyone needs to remain vigilant and observe public health measures in our efforts to keep the number of COVID-19 cases in the community as low as possible. She said that the donation confirms Steward’s commitment to the communities that it serves.

Present during the event were the Minister for Gozo, Hon. Clint Camilleri, the US Chargé d’Affaires, Mark Schapiro, the Superintendent of Public Health, Prof. Charmaine Gauci, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry for Gozo, John Borg, and the Administrator of id-Dar tal-Providenza, Nadine Camilleri Cassano.

A month before Dun Mikiel Azzopardi opened the Dar tal-Providenza doors on the 12th of January 1968 a number of Sisters of Charity of St Joan Antide de Thouret started living as a communitry in the same Home to help the founder with his new work. They were the first support workers of the Home with a helping hand from volunteers and later on from workers who were specifically taken on board.
The first three residents entered the Home on February 11th 1968. The were all hosted at Villa Monsinjur Gonzi which had just been refurbished.
Ever since then, the Sisters of Charity offered their professional services with a lot of love, dedication and generosity. On January 1st of this year, Archbishop Charles J. Scicluna officially announced that the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity in Malta decided against its wishes that due to age this year the Sisters will terminate their work at Dar tal-Providenza. The official last day was July 15th 2020.
The presence of this religious community was a gift to residents, workers and volunteers of the Home. They were always there for everyone 24 hours a day. Most of them gave their services for a long time. In fact, Sr Gesuina Mangion has been serving at the Home for these last 41 years, Sr Lorenza Borg for the last 13 years whilst Sr Bernarda Buhagiar and Sr Bertha Bezzina were both here for 20 full years.
Fr Martin Micallef, Director of the Home, commented that he was sure that their immense sense of service willl remain a guiding light to all of us working in this Home.
He thanked all the Sisters that worked in the Home during the years but not least Sr Lorenza Borg, Sr Bernarda Buhagiar and Sr Gesuina Mangion who are going to be sorely missed. He also wished them well in their new tasks within their new communities.