Joseph Calleja will serve as Hospice Malta’s honorary ambassador on a voluntary basis, the organisation announced at its annual fundraising dinner at the Westin Dragonara Resort.
Hospice Malta chairperson Bernadette Bonnici Kind said the board was overjoyed at Calleja’s “immediate and enthusiastic” acceptance of the role.
“We are excited to begin this collaboration with Joseph Calleja, who is eager to do what he can to help us to promote our mission and are extremely grateful for his support. We have no doubt that this collaboration will bear fruit for our organisation and provide Mr Calleja with enormous satisfaction.”
Acclaimed tenor Calleja was unable to attend the fundraising dinner due to singing engagements abroad but said in a video message: “It is an honour to have been asked to help Hospice Malta, which provides essential support to both patients and their families when they need it most. They don’t tend to shout about the good that they do, but the reality is that Hospice is made up of unsung heroes who perform an invaluable role in our society, and it will be a great privilege for me to do whatever I can to support their mission.”
Set up in 1989, Hospice Malta is made up of a team of professionals including doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, psychologists, physiotherapists complementary therapists, social workers and a spiritual director who assist more than 1,300 patients and their families every year.
Hospice Malta is committed to creating a state-of-the-art complex providing comprehensive palliative care services, once a €12.5 million project to refurbish a site known as the Cini Institute in Santa Venera, which was donated to the organisation by the Archdiocese of Malta, is complete.
The building will be renamed St Michael Hospice and enable Hospice to further extend its current community care services to also include a 16-bed in-patient unit. Funding has been secured from the government, the European Union, NDSF, and several local banks, corporations and businesses.
Hospice has embarked on several fundraising initiatives. Donations are gratefully acknowledged and can be made via www.hospicemalta.org.