The President greets LifeCyclists at San Anton
President George Vella greeted a group of LifeCyclists and their back-up team from Nescafé 3in1 LifeCycle Challenge, who stopped briefly at San Anton Palace in Attard. The cyclists were on their Sunday morning ride of 180km, which takes them around nine hours to complete.
On welcoming the LifeCyclists, including LifeCycle founder Alan Curry, chairperson Dr Shirley Cefai and the title sponsor Nestlé Marketing and Corporate Communications manager Alfred J. Borg, and Nestlé Senior Coffee and Confectionery Category manager Charlene Ellul, President Vella outlined the significance of this event in being a tangible contribution to the benefit of renal patients. The President wished the group of participating cyclists and their support team the best of luck for their admirable endeavour.
Curry thanked the President for receiving them at the Palace and briefly outlined the work by LifeCycle (Malta) Foundation and about this year’s Nescafé 3in1 LifeCycle Challenge. He said: “Persons suffering from kidney failure are at the core of Lifeycle (Malta) Foundation’s philanthropic work, and through LifeCycle Challenge, we aim to provide better facilities for them and their families.
“Since inception, 21 years ago, LifeCycle has seen a considerable number of individuals becoming clients at the Renal Unit. We look at giving the patients a brighter outlook on their lives by giving them better coping skills and knowledge in mitigating the difficulties with which they are faced,” said Curry.
Among its annual contributions, LifeCycle supports the maintainance of the software matching programme Traccia at the Renal Unit. Traccia facilitates the procedure of finding the right match for renal patient compatible with a kidney donor. Since the introduction of Traccia in 2017, 32 patients successfully received a kidney transplant after their blood composition was found to be compatible with the donated organ; the annual maintenance and use of the Twilight Shift Van to transport patients to and from Mater Dei Hospital for their evening dialysis, some three or four times a week; sponsoring the annual Lourdes Pilgrimage every August for renal patients and accompanying medical staff. LifeCycle also works to further awareness about organ transplants in Malta in collaboration with the Transplant Support Group.
In addition this year the LifeCycle Foundation, through its newly set up Renal Unit Support Health Hub, is paying for psychological support to almost 300 kidney patients and kidney donors, talks on health and nutrition, as well as offering free fitness sessions to renal patients undergoing dialysis treatment.
The LifeCycle Challenge is supported by the generous donations from individuals and companies. For these two consecutive years LifeCycle’s main sponsor is Nestlé Malta with their iconic brand Nescafé 3in1. The sponsorship will be exclusively dedicated towards a new research programme in kidney disease at the University of Malta and towards Renal Unit Support Health Hub (Rush).
Borg said: “LifeCycle Foundation is making a tangible and significant difference in the lives of renal patients and their families. At Nestlé, we share the same principle of the LifeCycle Foundation, that of providing, caring and supporting the communities we operate in. Our principles are built on values, namely respect, and this is what we believe LifeCycle is doing in its endeavour, offering respect to patients and their families, hence an easy choice for us to contribute to such a noble, nation-wide act.”
Nescafé 3in1 LifeCycle Challenge 2019 aims to raise the substantial sum of €200,000 to sustain its current and new projects for 2019-2020.
The cyclists and back-up support team will depart for Vietnam on 9 September. They will start their arduous 10-day ride, an almost 2,000km journey, from Vietnam through busy roads, climbs and undulations to Laos and Cambodia. The finish will be at Angkor Wat, one of the world’s greatest wonders. They will be back in Malta on 24 September.
HOW TO HELP:
Donations can be sent via sms on: 5061 7370 = €2.33;
5061 8920 = €6.99;
5061 9229 = €11.65; or via telephone on:
5160 2020 = €10,
5170 2005 = €15;
5180 2006 = €25.
Bank details are Swift code VALLMTMT, IBAN number MT 18 VALL 22013000000014814521017, Bank name Bank of Valletta, Account number 14814521017