Christmas is traditionally a time of giving and 3 separate initiatives in Benidorm have been set up with this in mind.

Yesterday, 100 Harley Davidson bikers dressed up as Santa´s, rode into Benidorm bearing gifts!  For the fifth consecutive year, the Costa Blanca Chapter bought gifts for the children of the Emaus homes with money raised by its members. They roared through Albir and Alfaz before heading to the main Town Hall square in the centre of Benidorm.
They bought gifts according the the age and sex of the children from a list provided by the Emaus organisation, ensuring each child received an appropriate present and headed off back to Altea to enjoy a much deserved Christmas lunch.

Continuing with the toy theme, the Sol Pelicanos hotel - better known as the Solana resort from the ITV Benidorm series, are also collecting toys in conjunction with Caritas, who will distribute them to families in the locality who are struggling to buy gifts for their children this Christmas.

Caritas are a Catholic led charity and do much to help the disadvantaged throughout Spain. You can often see baskets and trolleys at the entrance to many supermarkets with "Caritas" on it. They are collecting food donations and encourage you to buy an extra bag of rice or pasta so that they can be passed on to those in need. Well they are collecting at "La Marina" shopping centre, located in front of the Carrefour hypermarket.

La Marina shopping centre

They are hoping to collect 200 kilos of non-perishable foodstuff which will be distributed by Finestrat Social Service to the towns poor. The shopping centre come under Finastrat Town Hall, although most people refer to it as Benidorm. To encourage donations, the manager of the shopping centre, Raquel Rico explained that for every donation they are giving out a 1 euro discount voucher which can be used at any of the stores within the centre. The scheme will run until 5th January and you take any items to the information point which is located on the 1st floor. The centre is now also open every Sunday from 10am until 10pm.

Lastly, and a very sensible idea in my opinion is that The Regente Hotel in Benidorm, part of the Playa Med Group are giving any away any surplus and leftover food from the hotel buffet to eight needy local families. Usually the leftovers went straight into the bin, but instead Pablo Villamediana, manager of The Regente hotel contacted the charity organisation "Solidarity" offering to help feed families in dire need. They will co-ordinate the distribution of hot meals at lunchtime and in the evening to the chosen families and hope that other hotels in Benidorm will take part in this initiative. Well done to the Playa Med Group for such an innovative concept!