On 13th January, as President of the Estepona Chapter, along with our Treasurer, Brian, I visited Comedores Sociales EMAUS in Estepona to present  our Chapter's Donation of 400 euros to contribute to feeding the hungry/needy of our very own Estepona.  Some of these families have had no income for some time now, as their jobs were discontinued and their unemployment benefits have ended.  "La Crisis" has hit hard on the Costa del Sol and EMAUS, along with many other charitable organizations up and down the coast, are doing their best to help.

We were accompanied by Francine Pompas of the Foreigners Department and Marina Segovia Jaquete, the Councilor for Tourism to meet with Ilalfonzo and his staff for the presentation.  A reporter from El Diario Sur was there along with Estepona TV.   With TV cameras and all those people, my nerves took over as well as my lack of Spanish, which unfortunately surely showed!  However, our good intentions were so appreciated and all present made Brian & I feel very good about what our Chapter were doing to help.

I strongly urge anyone  who would like to see first-hand what these hard working people are doing for our community  to visit  EMAUS   It is up the hill on the right hand side of the road, one road behind the Supersol in the Port.  They will greet you with open arms and show you their operation which I am sure you will find very impressive.  If anyone doubts that there is a need in this community, a visit to EMAUS will surely change their mind. 

Of course, food is donated all the time to these charities, but something that I never thought about and most people do not, is the cost of the gas bottles to cook the hundreds of meals a day that organizations like EMAUS are in need of most.  Almost all of the meals prepared daily are feeding families with children.  EMAUS do not actually feed many people in the building itself, as the parents come in and take the food back home in order for the children to eat as a family in a normal home environment.

I would personally like to thank all of our members and guests who contributed  to our raffles over the year which help to make donations like these possible. 


Joanne Wynne-Hughes
President Estepona Chapter 2011-2012

Please look at the two links below for the T.V. Interview with the Consular for the Foreign Dept, as well as the Article in El Diario Sur.

http://www.diariosur.es/v/20120113/marbella/solidaridad-americana-comedor-social-20120113.html

http://radiotelevisionestepona.com/index.php/component/content/article/1-latest-news/912-el-club-americano-de-estepona-contribuye-con-el-comedor-social-con-un-donativo