The Tree of Dreams gives hope to vulnerable children

• CaixaBank promotes a chain of solidarity that allows more than 34,000 children to receive the gift they requested in their letters

Ayan is 9 years old and he loves football. He is not yet Ter Stegen nor Courtois, but where he enjoys being the most is under the goal. The problem is that “when they kick very hard my hands hurt”, he writes in his letter, so this Christmas he has ordered some goalkeeper gloves. Marc, 10 years old, is also a big football fan and has long aspired to have a ball of his own to be able to play in the park after leaving school. What Coraima likes most instead is drawing, so in her letter she asks for some lettering pens with which, she promises, to write her letter in full colour next year.

The gloves, the ball and the pens are just three of the more than 34,000 gifts that have been given to children under 12 in a situation of vulnerability throughout Spain through the solidarity initiative The ‘Tree of Dreams (el Árbol de los Sueños), promoted by CaixaBank. This is the seventh edition of the programme, which this year has reached almost 5,000 more children than last year, and which helps private customers, companies and employees of the company form a chain of solidarity whose gears reach all of Spain.

 

The first link is to ask for one of the letters written, and most drawn in too, by the children, at a CaixaBank branch or via CaixaBank Now, asking which is the gift they are most eager to receive on these dates and which, in many cases, will be the only one they receive. The recipient of that letter purchases the gift, the amount of which must not exceed 50 euros, and takes it to their branch. From there, the 360 collaborating social entities and the 336 companies that participate in the initiative put in the magic to organise the collection and distribution of the gifts throughout all of Spain’s autonomous communities.

As a novelty, this year the chain of solidarity has also been rolled out through the social media accounts of a total of 35 professional football clubs, such as FC Barcelona, Atlético de Madrid, Real Betis Balompié as well as basketball, such as Laguna Tenerife, Leyma Coruña, Perfumerías Avenida de Salamanca and Ointek Gernika, which has given great visibility to the programme.

The solidarity component of the initiative has made the Tree of Dreams take root and bear more fruit than ever. In fact, in its seventh edition it reached a new record of participation, with 34,136 letters completed. On balance, more than 180,000 children at risk of exclusion have been able to crack a smile when opening their gifts since 2018.

It's a magical moment, indescribable many times because just the smile of that kid is already telling you everything you need to know. Many times, it is difficult to be able to express the emotion of that child opening a gift with words, it is wonderful.

Patricia Almazán - head of Social Action of the Madrid Regional Office of CaixaBank

Omar, Chiamaka, Eduangel, Achraf or Wiam are some of the thousands of senders of the letters this year who dream they will stop dreaming and wake up next to  a book about space, a toy kitchen, a Minecraft Lego, a remote-controlled car or an art kit and that will be able to do so thanks to The Tree of Dreams. Their recipients dream of a day when they can stop writing these letters. That would mean that they are no longer in a vulnerable situation.