News

May 27, 2023

It is simply impossible to express the gratitude we feel for the Spanish “Aladina” Foundation.

At a time when the City of Smile was on the verge of closing down due to a series of crises, Aladina and its Founder Paco Arango lent a helping hand to our children fighting cancer and blood disorders in Armenia.

A few days ago, Ishtar Espejo, Director of “Aladina”, and Ana Dávila, Head of Communication and Press, visited Armenia. We were very happy to meet our beloved partners in our homeland.

The English translation of the article:

The Spanish Foundation sees possibilities for supporting children with cancer and blood disorders in Armenia

YEREVAN, MAY 16, ARMENPRESS

Donations to the City of Smile Charitable Foundation, which helps children and young adults with cancer and blood disorders through the age of 25, in Armenia in 2020 fell significantly as a result of the pandemic and the war. The foundation, which was close to running out of funds, eventually got a helping hand from the Spanish Aladina Foundation, which covered the entire amount of the beneficiaries’ medical care for nearly two months.

According to Tamara Apoyan, PR and Marketing Manager of the City of Smile Foundation, “Thus, they helped not only to prevent the foundation from collapsing but also helped to save hundreds of Armenian children, who at that moment were facing a difficult situation. Cancer requires very expensive treatment and also due to the socio-economic situation in our country, parents are not able to fully cover the treatment costs of their children.”

Aladina Foundation was founded by Paco Arango, a film director. It has been supporting children with cancer in Spain for approximately 15 years. Although in Spain the Government pays for the majority of the costs associated with treating children with cancer, the foundation provides additional forms of assistance. For example, it organizes events, renovates playrooms, offers psychological support, etc.

The collaboration with the Aladina Foundation is expected to be continuous.

“That was the moment we could help. We are pleased to support children with cancer in countries facing challenging circumstances. The war was the issue in this case. You also had a relevant program that was worth sponsoring”, says Ishtar Espejo, Director of the Aladina Foundation.

The Director of the Foundation stated that they realized that both the pandemic and the war were serious challenges for Armenia, and that became the main reason for support.

“We sincerely hope we can continue to help. We often work together for 2-3 years before attempting to support other organizations, although we are always clear that we prefer long-term collaboration. After the meeting, we, therefore, understood what the needs are and what needs to be done to establish a truly effective collaboration for upcoming projects. At the moment, I’m not able to tell you exactly how the upcoming collaboration will look right now, but we’ll know in the future what the next steps of our work are”, she added.

The City of Smile Charitable Foundation was established to support people with cancer and blood disorders. The Foundation’s mission is to stand by their side and help them and their families in their challenging journey of conquering cancer. During the year of 2022, the Foundation had 143 new beneficiaries, 89 beneficiaries finished the treatment, and 265 received support. As of the end of 2022, they have a total of 609 registered beneficiaries.

The article on “Armenpress” (in Armenian)