Paul Newman's "Hole in the Wall Village"

Paul Newman in Italy to present the plan for the first Italian "Hole in the Wall" village which will be established at San Marcello Pistoiese. "Hole in the wall" villages are "Holiday Villages" for children aged between 7 and 15, who are suffering from serious and chronic illnesses, hosted in the period following hospitalisation or during spells of recovery from treatment.

The first village was created in 1988 in the United States of America with the proceeds from Newman's Own, a food company owned by Paul Newman. Currently the camps are present in America , France , Israel , South Africa and Hungary . They have hosted more than one hundred thousand children and employ 60 thousand people every year including doctors, nurses, volunteers, workers, entertainments organisers and parents.

The camps are organised so as to give back to child sufferers the possibility to enjoy their childhood. With all the medical help necessary, the children can socialise in a protected environment, and have the opportunity to get to know and experiment with the best tools to deal with their condition in a better way. The project is also important for parents who, sharing with other parents the problems linked to their child's illness, benefit from a valuable psychological prop. The stay is free because all the costs are covered by donors and sponsors.

From: In Toscana the new web platform created by the Region of Tuscany and Monte dei Paschi di Siena and presented to the press this week in Rome.