THANK YOU FOR THESE WEEKS #CONILMARENELCUORE (#WITHTHESEAINOURHEARTS)
Some of you wrote “We will help the island, because it is also our home”, while somebody shared a picture of their tattoo, saying “I have Elba on my skin and also in my heart”. Some people shared the emotion of falling in love with the island even though it is no longer their home, yet others declared their love even in other languages, like “Ich liebe Elba seit 40 Jahren”. Some of you sent a video, some of you a picture of a “thank you” note, others sent pictures of their home fragrance diffusers to show they were staying safe at home #CONILMARENELCUORE (such as the one chosen to illustrate this article), yet others sent emails from abroad with the simple sentence, “Grazie Mille” (“Many Thanks”).
During the past few months, celebrities and ordinary people, companies and associations, residents and tourists have all supported our island with a huge show of solidarity, generously contributing to the initiative we promoted in order to assist the Hospital of Isola d’Elba and the Italian State’s Civil Protection Department in their action against the COVID-19 emergency. This fundraising effort has succeeded beyond the most hopeful expectations: “The level of generosity and participation shown by all has overwhelmed us with joy”, states Fabio Murzi, President of Acqua dell’Elba, “Our initial objective was to raise 20,000 euros, a sum which we already deemed quite significant, but from the very early stages we could see that donations were increasing beyond the most optimistic of expectations. So, at first, we raised the objective to 50,000 euros, then to 100,000 euros, a sum which was also attained.” Murzi continues, “We have always tried to give something back to Isola d’Elba, of what it gives to us in terms of inspiration and motivation.
Throughout this initiative we kept doing so, soliciting the participation of all those people who, like us, have in their hearts the beauty and magic of the island, and we were glad to see such a cohesive response from all the Elban people. As a company, we made a commitment to contribute to GoFundMe 50% of the profits derived from online sales of Home Fragrance Diffusers, specifically labelled with the logo #CONILMARENELCUORE for the occasion. The response we saw from our clients, people who buy our products from all over the world, was also in this case quite astounding”.
Overall, the initiative raised 121,050.00 euros in donations, of which Acqua dell’Elba contributed 12,899.00 through profits derived from sales of customised Home Fragrance Diffusers, a sum which is additional to the high-technology intensive care bed the company independently decided to donate during the month of March. As stipulated, a third of this total sum was transferred to the accounts of the National Civil Protection Department, whilst the remainder went to the Hospital of Portoferraio to pay for the equipment already ordered by its own Board of Directors.
The equipment that has been ordered consists of two high-technology intensive care beds and the C-Mac UO Intensive Care System (C-Mac monitor for cmos fiberscopes and C-Mac video-laryngoscope Mac 4), while the Lung Ventilator that will be delivered in the next few days has already been paid for. Requirements for further equipment are currently being evaluated, and instructions are awaited from the hospital regarding investment of the remaining funds.
The heads of the Elban healthcare system (in the persons of the Director of Hospital Infrastructure, Doctor Bruno Maria Graziano, and of the Medical District Director, Doctor Fabio Chetoni) have publicly stated, “Considering its significant cost, profound gratitude is expressed for the equipment donated to our hospital, which will now be able to provide a more concrete, effective and prompt response in finding a cure to Covid19”.
Further updates regarding the deployment of the remaining funds will be shared as soon as possible, while the documentation relating to the equipment ordered by the hospital is available on the page we specifically created for transparency purposes on Acqua dell’Elba’s website, accessible through this link.
In the meantime, once again, we’d like to thank each and every one of you…con il mare nel cuore.
