Fr Lino Cardona SJ, Mrs Blanche Mifsud and Mrs Mary Verzin are the winners of this year’s Dun Mikiel Azzopardi Award. The Archbishop Mons. Paul Cremona presented the Awards during a special ceremony that took place at the Radisson Hotel in St. Julians. He also presented Certificates to all the nominees.

In his opening comments, Fr Martin Micallef, Director of Id-Dar tal-Providenza said that this year being the European Year for Volunteering it was very appropriate that the Award is given to volunteers of the Home, in fact the three winners have collectively dedicated a hundred and thirteen years of their life to the Siggiewi Home and its residents. He stressed that Maltese society needs to invest in volunteering. “The commitment made by volunteers who regularly donate their time and energy towards the Home,” said Fr Micallef, “is the perfect example of solidarity, the perfect example of what it means to strive towards a better quality of life and for equal opportunities for all.”

Mrs Vicky Gauci, this year’s winner of the Worker of the Year Award and Principal Occupational Therapist with the National Commission for Persons with Disability spoke on the theme of persons with disability and volunteering. She said that historically, the Church was the first institution that came up with social initiatives that helped various groups that were emarginated by society, including persons with disability, so that they too can have a better quality of life. She said that with the passage of time, the changes that took place in our mentality made us all aware that is was not just the biological deficiencies that disabled a person but more so the obstacles provided by our society and our environment that precluded persons with disability from sharing equal opportunities with the rest of society. Mrs Gauci stressed that everyone could do his or her part in order to obtain a society that is more equitable with the members that pertain to it. We cannot expect the Government, the Church and the National Commission for Persons with Disability to do everything for us but we should all shoulder the responsibility to make all those changes that are hindering equal opportunities for all and an equitable society.

In a short but incisive speech, the Archbishop said that this awards ceremony was indeed a beautiful occasion that brought together the residents , the workers and the volunteers who are part of the Dar tal-Providenza phenomenon. He made reference to the parable of the talents which mentions numbers but behind those numbers there was a concerted effort to multiply the talents given to them by their master. This also applies to persons with disability as well as to all volunteers. May our society, said the Archbishop, be a totally inclusive one.

Thirteen nominations were received by the adjudicating committee for the Dun Mikiel Azzopardi Award nominated by the Board of Directors of id-Dar tal-Providenza and made up of Fr Martin Micallef, Dr Roberta Sammut and Dr Joe Bugeja. The unanimous decision was that for this year, without diminishing the merits of all the volunteers that were nominated, the Award is given to three of the nominees that have given a rather lengthy service to the Home.

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