L.I.V.E. Charity Project: Helping others less fortunate

Welcome to L.I.V.E.!

Time on your hands? Items you no longer need? Or just wanting a really worthwhile cause to support? L.I.V.E. is a nationally registered, Spanish charity whose aim is to make a positive difference to the lives of those in our community less fortunate than ourselves. The short-term focus of attention for L.I.V.E. is the Malaga children’s Home. In the longer term we expect to broaden our reach to help other people in need. Please explore our website to find out more about what we do and how you might be able to help us.

The charity was established in 2005 by a group of ex-pats who share one vision: to help those within our adoptive community who are less fortunate. We have a board of directors and a small team of volunteers and we are looking to recruit more help.

Under the chairmanship of the founder, Brian Marsh, the aim of L.IV.E. is to raise funds from the ex-pat communities living in Spain and use them to support good causes within the community. The objective is to offer people living in Spain the chance to put something back into the community we have chosen to live in. Our target causes involve people, particularly children, whose quality or life can be greatly improved through the generosity of those supporting L.I.V.E. The major principle of L.I.V.E. is to run the charity as efficiently, cost effectively, and accountably as possible so that the maximum amount goes to the people who need it. For the foreseeable future the cause L.I.V.E has chosen to support is a children´s home in Malaga called “Ciudad de los Niños” – Town of the Children: http://www.cnmalaga.com/

Make this a special Christmas for the Malaga Children’s Home

LIVE is launching an appeal to give the children a special Christmas present to last for years to come – their own swimming pool.

This year has been an unlucky year for the Children’s Home – La Ciudad de los Niños – on the outskirts of Malaga. As a direct result of land acquisition for the new motorway they have lost their swimming pool and most of their outdoor facilities.

Brother Juan, who runs the home, cannot afford to relocate the swimming pool that has had to be decommissioned this year resulting in a long, very hot, ‘dry’ summer for the children of the Home, and no hope for the long hot summers of years to come.

These children are in protective care miles from any beach so a stroll down for a dip in the sea is out of the question and there is no money for trips to water parks and no other diversion for them in the long hot summer months.

This why LIVE has decided to launch an appeal to raise the funds to give the Home a lasting Christmas present.

“It was heartbreaking to see the children in the sweltering days of summer, desperate to have some fun in the pool but banished to the sidelines because it cannot be used as it’s too close to the noise, dirt, and disruption of the motorway construction only metres from the poolside” - said Brian Marsh Chairman of LIVE.

“It would cost €55,000 to relocate the pool, money the Home doesn’t have as every penny of their income goes on feeding, clothing, and educating the children. If only 55,000 of the 300,000 or more ex pats living here were to donate €1 each, the children would have their pool for next summer”

The children of La Ciudad de los Niños have been rescued by the local authority from all manner of abuse. There are more than 50 resident children living in the Home with another one hundred street children simply abandoned on the streets of the nearby shanty town for whom the Home also provides a safe haven.

“These children have so very little of their own, if the ex pat community can rise to this challenge it will send a strong signal to these boys and girls that despite the difficult financial times we all find ourselves in someone still cares about them” said Brian Marsh.

If you would like to help by collecting money from friends, neighbours and family for the Children’s Home you can click to donate by visiting the LIVE website http://www.live-spain.org/ or, alternatively, anyone willing to make a donation can put money into the appeal account : LIVE, Banco de Andalucia, account No: 0004 3453 43 0600190773.

Note to Editors

For further information or interviews please call
Brian Marsh, Chairman LIVE,
(34) 620 791 441, or

Los Internationales Viven en España
Calle Jaen, Edf Jaen, Local 5
Rincón de la Victoria
29730 MALAGA
(34) 952 972 555
(34) 678 736 447
http://www.live-spain.org/