The Department of Traditions and Festivals of the city of Sitges has created a team of volunteers to collaborate in the organization and development of our festivals. Monday of next week, the Department has convened an open meeting in the Miramar Building to give shape to the joint operation of volunteers for the Carnival. This first group of volunteers will articulate the project, which aims to have its own presence in all the festivals of Sitges.
The proposal takes as its starting point the recent experience of the Three Kings Parade, where volunteers were fundamental to propagate the spirit of celebration among children and adults. Days later, the Half Marathon brought together over 200 people as volunteers. The vitality, energy and human wealth provided by all those inhabitants of Sitges, are now materialized among all those with a strong link with the Cavalcade and the Half Marathon and has left a markedly positive imprint. It is also the case of the Film Festival, which, for years, has volunteers for various departments: projections, public relations, press…
The initiative promoted by the Councillor Magi Almirall has a threefold purpose. First, provide the main festivals of the village with their own human structure vital for its own development. Each Festival is different, both in its magnitude and in the human resources required for their development. But beyond the respective specificities, each event has some common needs in their own support teams, either for their preparation or during implementation. The current economic situation and budget constraints often prevent the replacement of such needs by contracts or resorting to any extra expense.
Second, volunteers allow and ensure the survival of Festivals despite the crisis, and they also bring a renewed hope that, no doubt, will benefit programs, objectives and implementation in which they collaborate.
Finally, the team of volunteers will strengthen the implementation of social events. Often, some of our most famous and significant festivities base their executive organization on a commission, which also works with the voluntary commitment of its members. This is the case of the Sitges’ Main Festival or the Carnival. It is true that groups or societies involved in festivals have their own structures, composed by a large number of inhabitants of Sitges, which also constitute indirect organizers of the festival, but by broadening the base of support teams of committees, we will approach the genesis and the inside of the festival to a wider range of inhabitants of Sitges.
Catalonia, and our town is a clear example, has a solid tradition in voluntarism. The Olympic Games of 1992 were a clear example of our voluntarism, but different organizations, NGOs or grassroots movements of the Church also have a long history of volunteer work that responds to the commitment and spirit that distinguishes an active and engaged civil society.
AN ABUSIVE TOLL The Municipal Plenary Meeting held yesterday passed a motion approved unanimously by all groups of the municipal council, whose goal is to ask the Government to review the price of the highway toll of Garraf. The construction of the tunnels of Garraf, twenty years ago, was a key factor for the economic development of the region, but the cost involved can not penalize citizens, in this case the inhabitants of Sitges. Every time we make use of the fast highway to Barcelona, we must pay the excessive amount of 6.05 Euros. I can assure you that we will be very firm with our demand, and that we will demand to whoever it may concern a change in this abuse.
