The new partnership sees RE/MAX & Friends Foundation support the Victory Kitchen Foundation by means of an annual sponsorship of €20,000 that goes directly into supporting the operation of Victory Kitchen
The collaboration kicked off on the 7th and 8th May when RE/MAX & Friends Foundation signed up to the challenge set by Victory Kitchen founders Rafel Sammut and Andrew Arrigo at the Neptunes WPSC pool in Balluta. The Foundation pledged to increase their donations over the course of the swimming marathon and the number of hours Sammut and Arrigo each spent in the water, for a continuous period of 24 hours.
RE/MAX Malta team members offered support with shorter swims in the pool and by serving food during the swimmer’s scheduled feeds. The event successfully raised €100,000; a portion of which Victory Kitchen pledged to help fund treatment for 9-year-old twins with Infantile Refsum disease. As the first corporate partner of Victory Kitchen, RE/MAX & Friends Foundation is also set to support multiple other upcoming events with the scope of helping the community further, both within the Victory Kitchen itself and the provision of meals to those in need, but also in other aspects of help to the community at large.
Launched at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Victory Kitchen cooks and delivers food to families in need across the island. To date, Victory Kitchen has served over 156,000 meals to more than 28,000 families.
“We are proud to have RE/MAX Malta and RE/MAX & Friends Foundation supporting us,” says Rafel Sammut, founder of Victory Kitchen. “They rose to the occasion when we challenged companies to dare us to swim for longer on our Charity Swim this year and this showed commitment to our cause. From there we spoke of how we can collaborate further which led to them coming on board as our first corporate sponsor.
“We are excited to see how we can have this partnership evolve both in terms of support to Victory Kitchen as well as on other projects that we now look forward to working on with RE/MAX. We do hope more companies take the lead from RE/MAX and join in with similar support to our causes and beyond. There is no better satisfaction than that of helping those less fortunate and we encourage more to do so,” he adds.
Joe Caruana Curran, Franchise Owner of RE/MAX Executives, Ibragg, was instrumental in pursuing this collaboration with the incredible team at Victory Kitchen. “As a RE/MAX Franchise owner and stakeholder, it is great to be able to assist others through our foundation thanks to the donations coming from regional office, our offices, managers and associates,” says Mr Caruana Curran.
“We are delighted to partner with Victory Kitchen as they continue to make such a huge difference,” says RE/MAX Malta CEO and RE/MAX & Friends Foundation Board Member Jeffrey Buttigieg. “They have shown the power of working together for the good of the community – values that we also hold close to our heart at RE/MAX & Friends. Our partnership with Victory Kitchen is one of several we hope to undertake, to help change the lives of children and families in need on the Maltese islands.”
Like Victory Kitchen, RE/MAX & Friends Foundation provides support when it is needed most. The Foundation launched in 2013, when a RE/MAX Malta team member, Karl Cutajar, received a life-threatening diagnosis. His teammates across the top real estate brand bandied together to raise funds for his treatment and to help his family throughout the difficult time.
Today, those in the RE/MAX Malta team generously contribute a percentage of their income towards the RE/MAX & Friends Foundation – with 40 per cent of the total funds available for any RE/MAX team member as needed and 60 per cent donated towards community causes, particularly children suffering from chronic diseases. RE/MAX & Friends Foundation also proudly supports many worthy causes on the island, including Beating Hearts Malta, Puttinu Cares Foundation, the Malta Community Chest Fund Foundation, ALIVE Charity Foundation and Id-Dar tal-Providenza.
“Everyone needs a friend to be there for them when the going gets tough. We believe that it is our duty towards the generation of tomorrow – today’s children and the community at large – to give something back. With Victory Kitchen, we look forward to helping to make a difference for more people in Malta,” concludes Mr Buttigieg.
More information about RE/MAX & Friends Foundation is available at www.remaxandfriends.org.mt and about Victory Kitchen at www.victorykitchenmalta.org.
