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Your Royal Highness D. Pilar de Borbón

Dear Friends

I believe that you will all wish to join me in giving thanks for the presence among us of the Alma Mater of this project that was born with great ambition and is fulfilling its mission.

It would be hard for us to have a stormier night than this, in a country renowned for its mild weather. Outside, it has rained so torrentially all day that it is difficult to believe in the threat of fast desertification that hangs over Portugal and Spain. It is very likely that we will be thinking more of Noah and his ark today. The storm raging through the city out there is a good starting point to talk about home, snugness, care, kindness, all those words that have to do with what brings us together on this wild night. I have always felt that nothing is better than a good storm to make us feel the comfort of a family and a home.

Princess Pilar knows from experience what I am talking about. The storms of life brought her to us with her family, and the fact that they found a home here created lifelong ties of friendship. This is what makes the New Future. It gives children and youths adrift in the storm of life a home, care, protection and projects for the future. A good, a magnificent reason for us all to have faced the discomfort of bad weather and to be here together.

The challenges of our days are many and they differ from those of the past. As time moves on, new problems arise: new and hazardous attractions, new diseases, new mermaids with their misleading, seductive songs.

Projects cannot stagnate, they must face the new situations, and it is therefore very important that society be committed to learning how to help. We must swap experiences, knowledge, plans for the future. In an increasingly specialised world, we also know that in the field of social solidarity goodwill is often not enough, for sometimes lack of proper orientation leads to needless loss of energies. Therefore all those who have found a path to success are duty bound to share it, if the experience is to bear fruit.

It was this that happened four decades ago in Spain, with the Nuevo Futuro, or New Future, which has made the move, necessary as is generally agreed, from being a gigantic asylum to becoming a part of the family home concept. The goods results are clear to see and sharing this positive experiment has led to the expansion of the New Future idea throughout the world, including our own country where the project has been a success through the generous will of many kind-hearted people.

I therefore believe that it would be useless to appeal to your generosity. Everyone here knows what it is all about and knows the project well. We shall have to reach out to those who do not know the New Future project and tell them about it and what it does. I’m sure no one will remain indifferent.

I would also like to make it clear that these appeals are not just Christmas appeals but an appeal for attention throughout the whole year. Families are living entities that incur expenditure throughout the year. All of us, mothers and fathers of families, are aware of this. The Christmas that is approaching is just a time when more is usually spent, for it is a time of loving care and, let it be said, even loving care can sometimes cost money. Thank you all.