Raising Money for Pediatric Cancer Research

Today we would like to share with you the pride, that we have been able to contribute our grain of sand to a cause that is important to us: research for childhood cancer.

Childhood cancer research

Childhood cancer is a disease that affects children and their families around the world. It is less common than cancer by adults, and the emotional and physical impact is intense. The diagnosis of childhood cancer is always a challenge, because treatments intended for adults are often not directly applicable to younger people.

Because cancer manifests differently in children (specific tumors, certain genetic changes, unpredictable responses to treatments, different tolerances in children...), research is needed to find appropriate therapeutic approaches.

The Candela Bracelets Association is an entity created years ago by the families of children and adolescents with cancer admitted to the Sant Joan de Déu Hospital in Barcelona. It is intended to raise money for childhood cancer research. To do this, they allocate the money raised to various projects:

• the Pediatric Oncology Research Laboratory of the Sant Joan de Déu Hospital,
• the Project on Novel therapeutic approaches for the treatment of pediatric ependymoma, of the Translational Research Group for Cancer in Childhood and Adolescence of the Vall d'Hebron Research Institute,
• two projects related to osteosarcoma and Ewing's sarcoma, carried out by the Institute of Barcelona Biomedicine Research Institute in collaboration with the Sant Joan de Déu Hospital
• the international CLOSER project to improve the diagnosis and prognosis of children with leukemia in Latin America, to reduce the gap with results in Europe
• the Share4Rare Project, in collaboration with the Sant Joan de Déu Foundation, funded by the European Union, which is committed to bringing together patients, doctors and researchers to create an impact on rare diseases and transform them into known diseases.

Solidarity Activity at campsites

This summer, the entertainment teams of GAP Serveis Turístics organized every week a special activity at the various campsites of the Sènia Group: a solidarity activity. Normally the entertainment at our campsites is free for our guests, but this activity had a price: the participants paid €3 or €5, and learned how to make a bracelet.

Thanks to this, we have raised €3,260 among the 6 campsites where we organized this solidarity workshop, for the Pulseras Candela Association. For this reason, we would like to take advantage of this letter to thank all our customers who participated in this workshop and/or made donations to the Pulseras Candela Association.

We leave here a video about this initiative, where you can also learn how to make these bracelets.

How can I help?

Now that the campsites are closed, you don't have to worry if you want to do your part. You can help from home, all year. We invite you to:

• Give a Candela bracelet as a gift for Christmas: they are not only beautiful, but also a special gift with a lot of meaning
• Buy Candela bracelets for yourself: since you can't choose a color or design, the surprise will arrive at home
• Make a single donation right now: it's quick and you can choose the amount
• Become a member of the association: you can choose the amount of your donation and its frequency
• Choose a type of collaboration to get more people involved in your community: store, school, business...

Finally, we encourage you to take a moment to read all the information on the Pulseras Candela Association website to learn more about childhood cancer, research and other ways to help.

Special thanks to our entire team and guests who participated in this great cause!