Fifteenth edition of Banco Sabadell's 'solidarity aces'

The Catalan capital hosts this week a new edition of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell - Conde de Godó Trophy and this means that, once again, the Aces Solidarios initiative is underway, which has raised more than 320,000 euros since 2008 for social entities. The mechanics of this social action by Banco Sabadell are very simple: the entity donates 50 euros for each ace or direct service point that players score during all days of the competition.

This year, the NGOs and third sector entities chosen to receive these funds are the Catalan Down Syndrome Foundation, the AVES Foundation, the Valencian House of Charity and the CERES Foundation. "With Aces Solidarios we contribute to making you known; it is very important that society knows all the programs you are carrying out. I congratulate you and thank you for the work you do with your work, with which you are serving all humanity", highlighted the president of Banco Sabadell, Josep Oliu, during the presentation of the four beneficiary entities.

The average number of aces recorded in each edition of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell is 470. The maximum figure was registered in 2008, with 634, and the minimum, in 2011, with 313. Since 2008, more than 40 entities have benefited from the more than 320,000 euros raised. For Banco Sabadell, this tournament and the solidarity actions carried out around it are a way of linking the corporate values of the entity with sports values and, especially, with those of tennis, a sport of fair play and principles such as effort, the desire for self-improvement and respect.

In an event held this Tuesday at the stand that the bank has in the tournament's village, the representatives of the entities that this year will receive the collection from the Aces, explained the actions carried out by their organizations and also thanked Banco Sabadell for the initiative. All representatives agreed on highlighting the importance that the gesture and the support it provides to their work has for them.

Representing the foundations at the event were Adela Torras, president of the AVES Foundation; Álvaro Moliner, member of the Executive Committee of the Valencian House of Charity; Katy Trias, president of the Catalan Down Syndrome Foundation; and Ángela Ortega, director of institutional relations of the CERES Foundation.

https://youtu.be/ABtabRDwKMQ

The four beneficiary entities in 2023

Katy Trias has recalled that the Catalan Down Syndrome Foundation was born in 1984 with the mission of "accompanying people with Down syndrome from birth to old age". The president of the entity explained that they attend to more than 2,200 families a year, whom they help "to carry out life projects". Thus, the foundation has various services, such as care for children from 0 to 6 years old, family support in the school inclusion process, a labor inclusion area, and a leisure activities service. The Catalan Down Syndrome Foundation also has a medical center that leads research in this field.

For her part, Adela Torras explained that the AVES Foundation's mission is to accompany people through the grieving process. "The most important thing in life is to be able to express what we feel, especially in moments of such pain. It is vital to do so to be able to move forward: everyone has the power to be able to leave pain behind," Torras explained. The entity, which is organized into different support groups, has seen an increase in adoptions of 65% since the pandemic.

Álvaro Moliner focused his presentation on publicizing the Casa Valenciana de Caridad, an institution founded in 1906 to respond to the needs of the most disadvantaged. Currently, it has an annual budget of 6 million euros and in 2022 it served more than 4,000 people. Among its services, the distribution of food, a nursery school, and also offering shelter to vulnerable people thanks to a network of ten supervised apartments stand out.

Finally, Ángela Ortega, director of institutional relations at the CERES Foundation, based in Tomelloso (Ciudad Real), recalled that the entity was born as a psychological cabinet for the treatment of addictions, an activity that has been expanding over the years and today they also provide social inclusion, training and employment services, a placement agency, dependency, active aging, mental health and care for women victims of gender violence. The addictions area of CERES has a residential therapeutic community and supervised housing to prevent relapses.