The international reggae festival Rototom Sunsplash has delivered this Monday, in a ceremony held at Solé City, the 41,700 euros raised in its last edition, held in August in Benicàssim, which will help finance four social projects of the NGOs COCEMFE Castelló, Asociación de Familiares de Alzheimer (AFA) Castelló, l’Aurora Grup de Suport and ANAR Foundation.

The more than 41,700 euros came from the contributions of 10 euros made by the 4,177 people with free access to the site (aimed at children under 13 years, over 65 and people with disabilities) at the time of collecting their season ticket at the box office, in which each attendee has decided which project to allocate the aid.

The symbolic fee of 10 euros linked to this initiative, implemented for the first time in the management of the festival’s inclusive season tickets, will allow the ANAR Comunitat Valenciana Foundation, dedicated to the promotion and defense of the rights of children and adolescents at risk or in distress, due to situations of abuse, bullying, gender violence, parental neglect or mental health problems, to finance the foundation’s core program. These are helplines, a free telephone or chat service (116111), confidential, anonymous and available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and staffed by a psychology, legal and social team specialized in children and adolescents.

In 2023, the ANAR Foundation received more than 256,000 requests for assistance nationwide. In Comunitat Valenciana there were more than 19,600: more than 2,800 cases of extreme seriousness, “where the life of a child was at risk,” say the organization. “We thank the festival for having counted on the foundation, because this contribution is especially relevant to reach more children and their families, many people who did not know us, and to spread the lines of help,” said Teresa Martinez, territorial director of ANAR in the Comunitat, who attended the event along with Ana Sanchez, head of education in the regional delegation.

For its part, AFA will use the contribution to purchase a van to transport the users of the La Pineda center for Alzheimer’s patients from their homes to these facilities, said Silvia Ramos, manager of AFA. “I think it’s a wonderful initiative. It’s a question of solidarity among all,” he said.

COCEMFE Castelló, with over 30 years of experience in adapted transport, which currently serves Castelló, Almassora, Vilafamés and Borriana, has as an objective of this collaboration with Rototom Sunsplash to acquire a van adapted to cover the displacements “door to door and totally personalized” -they point out from the NGO- at provincial level of people with disabilities and reduced mobility who live in towns further away from the capital to facilitate daily tasks such as attending their job, a medical appointment, their day centers or leisure spaces. Both its president, Ximo Nebot, and its director, Samuel Miralles, have highlighted the “quality of life” and the “day-to-day facilities” that this service will provide for people with disabilities.

Finally, the contribution given to l’Aurora Grup de Suport, dedicated to supporting humanitarian rescue ships in the Mediterranean, will be distributed between two projects. On the one hand, the deployment of the entity in Sicily to replicate there the entire system of logistics and support to humanitarian rescue ships of migrants in the Mediterranean that has been carried out in the last five years in Valencian ports. “It will allow us to begin our march to Italy,” explained Irina Dragomir, president of l’Aurora, who was accompanied by the secretary, Pascual Lucas, and Mercè Carda, a volunteer. On the other hand, the entity will be able to go a step further in the Eulàlia Rescue RHIB project in Borriana, “to make a training center to have a team of between 10 and 20 people ready to operate in the rescue boats of the different ships, avoiding delays in the missions”, they explained.

Application for the donation certificate

All those who have collaborated with this social initiative through their contributions can contact directly the NGOs to which they have donated their funds to request a donation certificate for their income tax return, in accordance with the provisions of Article 24 of Law 49/2002, of December 23, 2002, on the tax regime for non-profit organizations. In order to carry out this procedure, the voucher or ticket of the event must be shown as proof of the donation.

Thus, collaborators can contact the organizations through the following e-mail addresses:

• AFA Castelló: administracion@afacastellon.org
• ANAR Foundation: donativos@anar.org
• COCEMFE Castelló: info@cocemfecs.org
• L’Aurora Grup de Suport (in collaboration with Fundació Mundo 21): hola@mundo21.org

On the other hand, and within the commitment to zero food waste promoted by the festival, Rototom Sunsplash has destined to the social dining room of the municipal hostel of Castelló the food of its catering area not consumed, which have allowed to prepare 40 of the menus for the users of this social resource.