Isha Sesay
A RESTAURANT in Ibiza has launched an inspiring campaign to feed hundreds of struggling families over the festive period.
Every Monday until Three Kings’ Day, the restaurant in Marina Botafoch will give away a pizza for each one bought.
Aptly named ‘Pizza is a right’, the initiative for Caritas was conceptualised by Marco Simonella, owner of iPizza, and Carlos Miranda, deputy director of fashion powerhouse Zara.
“Almost every day I go to the bank opposite Caritas and was beginning to notice that the queue for food was getting longer”, explained Marco to the Olive Press.
“Then I began to see that it was not just homeless people lining up, but people that I knew with their children. It broke my heart.”
Marco then decided that something had to be done to help, and that he would be the one to do it.
Unbelievably, this is the first initiative of its kind on the island during the entire coronavirus pandemic and has been so well received that the Consell d’Eivissa has asked Marco to run the campaign for them on Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
“I want to inspire other business owners from Palma to Barcelona, London to New York to do the same – so many people need help right now,” said Marco.
This has already been highlighted in the Balearic Islands, with a recent study estimating that over 33,000 people are suffering from extreme poverty due to the COVID-19 crisis.
The report by the Balearic Social Observatory revealed that the pandemic has increased poverty and exclusion exponentially in the region as well as worsening pre-existing cases of vulnerability.
