Frank Salt Real Estate-funded PV system will save the foundation €45,000 annually

On August 21, President George Vella inaugurated the PV solar panel system that was recently installed by the Inspire Foundation on its roof.

The €120,000 project was made possible thanks to the gene­rous funding by Frank Salt Real Estate as part of its Let’s Go Environmental Drive.

A total of 454 PV solar panels were installed on the roof of Inspire, estimated to generate some 253,000 units of energy a year, saving Inspire just under €45,000 worth of electricity annually. For this to be possible, seve­ral renovations and upgrades to the roof of the foundation’s Marsascala premises were needed, which included a gigantic steel structure to support the panels over the sloping area, as well as rewiring and replacement of the existing pipe works and air-conditioning infrastructure.

During the inauguration, which was attended by Inspire CEO Antonello Gauci and Frank Salt Real Estate directors Grahame Salt and Douglas Salt, the president also highlighted Star 25, a programme founded and managed by the Inspire Foundation to provide specific intervention for a group of young men and women with profound multiple learning disabilities. Its aim is to meet their individual needs through objectives set by a professional multidisciplinary team.

The programme runs for 25 hours, Monday to Friday, for 45 weeks per year.

Such a project is of huge help, for it allows us to cut down on inevitable costs, allowing us to continue offering our services to people with a disability

Those attending the programme receive a range of thera­pies such as the more traditional physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and language pathology and hydrotherapy; as well as more diverse help such as multisensory therapy. Participants also have the opportunity to partake in a wide range of activities, both as individuals or as a group.

Gauci said: “The past few months have been a challenge for our foundation. The pandemic meant a significant impact on the foundation’s finan­ces, with our fundraising channels being suspended.

“Such a project is of huge help, for it allows us to cut down on inevitable costs, allowing us to continue offering our services to people with a disability.

“We are already seeing the fruit of this project and we are truly grateful that Frank Salt Real Estate has come forward with such support.”

The €120,000 donation to the Inspire Foundation is by far the largest corporate social responsibility project Frank Salt Real Estate has undertaken to date and also marks its 50th year anniversary. This initiative forms part of several projects that the estate agency’s Let’s Go Environmental Drive has taken up over the last few years, aimed at safeguarding and contributing towards the well-being of Malta’s environment.

“The Inspire Foundation, like so many other similar institutions or organisations, offers invaluable help to countless families and they deserve all the assistance they can get from the Maltese community,” Grahame Salt said.

“We are proud to have been able to carry out this project that will provide free electricity to Inspire for many years to come and, very importantly, this will be clean energy that will help reduce their building’s carbon footprint ‒ there­by hitting two birds with one stone.

“We encourage other businesses and individuals who might be in a position to help in any way, to do so. Organisations like Inspire depend very much on this kind of help to continue offering their services.”