The Mayor of Dénia, Vicent Grimalt, the Councilor for Commerce and Markets, María José García Roselló, and the councilor of Social Welfare, Melani Ivars, have attended this morning to the presentation of the Tree of Christmas solidarity, located in the municipal market.
The president of the Association of Municipal Market Vendors, Maite Arnau, the president of AFIMA, Ana Pacheco, the managing director of the shopping cart manufacturing company Garmol, Sergio García, and Alfred Pavía, creative director, have participated also in this solidarity Christmas activity.
The Christmas tree at the Dénia municipal market 'Capabilities on wheels', which each year is intended to make visible the work of a social entity in Dénia and the Marina Alta, is dedicated this year to AFIMA, Association of Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue of the Marina Alta, and is an idea organized by the Department of Markets, the Dianense company Garmol and the Municipal Mercat of Dénia.
As highlighted by María José García Roselló, «the objective of this initiative, so important and necessary, is to combine the solidarity aspect with giving life to the Market by encouraging purchases. This year we wanted to support a disease as tough and as invisible as fibromyalgia.
The installation consists of a structure, like a Christmas tree, with twenty shopping carts, personalized with the AFIMA logo, in order to spread its activity and contribute to giving it visibility. «We want to encourage all those people who come to buy this Christmas at the Market. Those who make a purchase of more than ten euros will be able to participate in a draw to win a car and, at the same time, learn about fibromyalgia," said Maite Arnau.
The cars will be raffled off among buyers after the Christmas holidays. To participate in the draw, people will have to deposit the purchase receipt with their personal information and contact telephone number in the ballot boxes that are installed in the Market. Arnau was grateful for "always being able to collaborate with one of the associations, in this case with fibromyalgia with AFIMA."
The Councilor for Commerce and Markets congratulated AFIMA and expressed her gratitude for “being able to continue doing activities like this in a space like the Municipal Market, a place that is also supportive. We hope that this campaign has a very good reception and impact. We are very happy to be able to collaborate with the association because of the important seed they carry out for the health and well-being of people. And we also hope, with this campaign, to give it a lot of visibility and recognition," declared María José García Roselló.
On the other hand, Ana Pacheco, president of AFIMA, wanted to thank all the people and entities that have participated in this project, because "you don't know how difficult it is to explain to people what this disease is. You have given us a tool so that people can finally understand what we suffer. The agency has explained very well that fibromyalgia is an invisible disease, which has many symptoms, many of them invisible, to which you have to add that people do not understand you, that others believe that you are fine.
The collaborating company, Garmol, has thanked the City Council and the Market for being able to collaborate again on this initiative. As Alfred Pavía commented, "the campaign has focused on creating an exhibition of the different symptoms of this hard and invisible disease through shopping carts. For Garmol, the municipal market was the best place for the campaign message to reach people in a different way.
Garmol will give fifteen shopping carts to AFIMA so that they can sell them or raffle them to raise funds for their activity.
The mayor of Dénia, Vicent Grimalt, closed the event, thanking "all the people and entities that have participated and collaborated in this very traditional Christmas initiative. Above all, recognizing the work of the associations, which in the end are the beneficiaries of these actions, which help give it the greatest possible visibility.
