"This time shows us that, at least for one day, we can feel that, as a society, we are doing a little better." This is how Queen Letizia expressed herself this Tuesday in the act with which the "World Day of the International Movement of the Red Cross and Red Crescent" was celebrated, in which the gold medals of the organization that , among other entities, has been received by the Barcelona Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB) which announced a few months ago that it had discovered the malignant cells that break away from colon cancer and cause death by metastasis. When going up to the lectern, the Queen surprised those present by addressing in Ukrainian the president of the Ukrainian Red Cross, another of the award-winning entities, to show her support and solidarity for his work alongside those who suffer from the war.
The event, in which the continuity of the fundamental principles, values, history and achievements of the movement founded 159 years ago is celebrated, was held at the Círculo de Bellas Artes, in Madrid, at the same time that similar events are taking place in the 192 countries in which the Red Cross has a presence.
The entities that have been deserving of the entity's gold medals have been the Ukrainian Red Cross; the Spanish Society of Geriatrics and Gerontology on its 75th anniversary; the Cancer Research team of the Barcelona Biomedical Research Institute (IRB), which at the end of the year announced that it had discovered the malignant cells that break away from colon cancer and cause deaths by metastasis; the Forest Fire Reinforcement Brigades, which last year faced one of the most intense years in terms of fires against which they fight throughout the year through extinction or prevention and preparation; and Ethic magazine, a communication medium born in 2011 with the aim of addressing social and environmental challenges through journalism with a critical and constructive spirit.
The Queen closed the event by highlighting the work of five award-winning organizations "that share values and that, as we have just seen, reflect the excellence of those who are guided by responsibility, commitment and the desire for a more just and balanced society". Especially emotional was his greeting in Ukrainian to the president of the Ukrainian Red Cross who spoke on behalf of the winners and who managed to move those present by recounting the work of the organization in the country at war and also by thanking the reception that the Red Cross of Spain has provided to the refugees.
The celebration of Red Cross Day, in which the new president, María del Mar Pageo, has intervened for the first time, has as its motto "We do it from the heart", and focuses on the people of the communities, "the person of next door," who is often the first to step up and support those in need around them; it could be someone at our workplace; a neighborhood vendor or a Red Cross and Red Crescent volunteer; someone at the gym, store or market we go to; or someone who lives nearby and who has always been by our side, because, as the Queen recalled, one in two hundred people around us is a volunteer for the Spanish Red Cross, and that makes this organization present everywhere.
In Spain, the Red Cross has more than 263,000 volunteers responding in more than 6,500 municipalities, which annually serve more than 12.2 million people nationwide and have more than 13.4 million people as beneficiaries in internationally and more than 8 million people in awareness and environment activities. All this with the support of nearly 1.4 million members, companies and allies in all sectors of society.
