An appeal – UPDATED

Published: April 26, 2012 at 10:41pm

UPDATED AT 12.30PM, FRIDAY

I have received an email from Dar Merhba Bik, letting me know that after the appeal below was uploaded last night, by this morning they had “already received quite a lot of donations”. They send their thanks.

Those who have not yet donated supplies, please do so. Much more are needed and these products are a constant requirement at the shelter. Thank you.

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I am told by the director of the women’s shelter, Dar Merhba Bik, that they are in “dire need of baby food, baby milk and nappies”.

Will readers of this website please help out by buying some or all of these things (and once you’re at it, do please ask the pharmacy or supermarket for a whole box and not just a few tins and jars or a single pack of nappies; it won’t break the bank).

You can drop them off at the shelter at 130 Birbal Street, Balzan at any time of the day or night, because staff are on duty round the clock. This is that stretch of street when you leave Valley Road in Birkirkara and head to San Anton garden. In that direction, it’s on the right – a smallish, inconspicuous door with a heavy metal portcullis.

If you find it easier to donate money than to make purchases and deliver them, please make out your cheque to Dar Merhba Bik and send it to the same address, postcode BZN 9014. The shelter’s administrators tell me that they do not like to have deposits made directly into their bank account, because it leaves them unable to thank donors due to the anonymity.

If you wish to ring to find out more about how you can help, the number is 21 440 035.

Another way of helping out is by circulating word of this appeal through Facebook and email. Thank you.

If importers and distributors of baby food, baby milk and nappies are reading this, will they please do the necessary.




10 Comments Comment

  1. SC says:

    I am just going off Google maps but I hope this helps, a cafe at the top of the road called Cafe Papillon and on the same road as Zmerc pub. Is it between those two buildings?

    [Daphne – Yes, that’s it. On the other side of the road, though.]

  2. A Grech says:

    I posted a copy of above on 4 Facebook walls. That’s very nice of you Daphne.

  3. Anthony says:

    Dar Merhba Bik is a church institution with no lay parallel in the country.

    It’s contribution to society is priceless.

    It is the last resort for many a suffering woman and child/ren.

    The fact that they had to resort to this appeal is shameful.

    Shameful for us not for them.

    Yes, they have a heavy metal portcullis. They need it.

    They are frequently attacked for carrying out their selfless mission. I have worked with them in desperate circumstances.
    The nuns there are worth their weight in diamonds.

    There is no state alternative to their function in society, which is a disgrace.

    The least we and the government can do is to ensure that they have all the resources they require to carry out their invaluable
    contribution to society.

  4. Rita Camilleri says:

    I have posted this on Facebook and will also send email to my friends.

  5. Hunter says:

    HALLELUJAH!!! A MIRACLE!!!

    A relevant subject without mockery of nothing or nobody!!!

    Good for you, Daphne!!!

    [Daphne – Don’t make the mistake of thinking that matters which are irrelevant to you are irrelevant to all.]

    • Hunter says:

      Just to be clear I do believe that a matter like this should be taken seriously; I myself will try to help.

      It is about the relevance of certain comments done in the past that I have dubious thoughts about. But then I am not that frequent a reader of this blog so I may not be the one who should comment about this.

      This is just the common perception, as true or as false as it may be.

      [Daphne – Let’s hope you never have to fix an engine, Hunter, because you’ll get yourself into a fine mess with your way of diagnosing things and assessing situations.]

      • Hunter says:

        You do not need to worry about that… whenever I need to fix an engine, I’ll make sure to take it to a qualified technician, ergo the ‘I may not be the one who should comment about this’. However assessment of how a faulty engine got faulty in the first place does most of the times have to do what how the engine was treated in the past.

  6. D. says:

    I have posted this appeal on Facebook. From what I know, that heavy metal door is not there for decoration either. It’s a disgrace that such genuine causes are not helped regularly with government grants of some sort.

  7. Min jaf? says:

    How many of those who have ‘posted an appeal on Facebook’ have actually gone on to contributing something tangible to Dar Merhba Bik, one wonders?

  8. Daphne don’t you think that a lot of people have become lazy. I mean they find it much easier to deposit something in a charity’s account – preferably on-line – then writing out a cheque, finding an envelope/stamp, posting it?

    When things are collected for aid to foreign counties after a natural disaster, we see whole van loads of stuff being donated. Surely businesses should do the same for Maltese charities.

    [Daphne – They wouldn’t know about it, though. There have been some offers after this appeal.]

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