Rafa Nadal Foundation opens a new center in Madrid for children and families affected by the Covid-19 crisis

We are announcing the creation of a Rafa Nadal Foundation Center in Madrid, where we will assist vulnerable children and families who have been highly affected by the Covid-19 crisis. This expansion of our work will be possible thanks to the donation we have received from Endesa, which once again shows its commitment to the fight against the social impacts of the pandemic.

This new center in Madrid will be the third Rafa Nadal Foundation Center, after the one in Palma —launched in 2014—, and the one in Valencia —opened in 2019—. In these centers we carry out a comprehensive program complementary to school education, which includes three areas of attention to children: sports, educational and psychosocial. The objective is to provide children with the necessary tools and support to strengthen their social integration and improve their personal and educational development.

In the Rafa Nadal Foundation Center in Madrid we will focus on minimizing the negative impact that the pandemic has had on vulnerable groups, through measures based on guaranteeing equal opportunities and inclusion. In addition to care for children, the organization will offer psychological support to the families, as well as guidance for unemployment situations and help in managing procedures.

Madrid is one of the communities with the highest rate of inequality and child poverty, besides registering a high incidence of the coronavirus. The Rafa Nadal Foundation is searching for a place in which to create the new center and it is evaluating locations in different districts, taking into account variables such as the unemployment rate, the number of children living in the area or the presence of other social and sports resources.

“The situation caused by the pandemic is depriving many children of their right to grow up free and happy, to play, learn and interact among equals”, explains María Francisca Perelló, director of the Rafa Nadal Foundation. “We are grateful for Endesa’s involvement to face this reality and their effort to promote social and health initiatives, which today, more than ever, are of vital importance”, she adds.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Endesa has taken various initiatives forward aiming at countering the effects of the crisis on groups in vulnerable situations. The donation made to the Rafa Nadal Foundation is part of their corporate social responsibility plan, it is worth € 25 million and intended to alleviate the health and social effects of Covid-19.

“Within Endesa’s corporate social responsibility plan, what we do is as important as with whom we do it. Collaborating with the Rafa Nadal Foundation is one of those opportunities that you can be sure will only go well; for the prestige, the good work, the synergies in the objectives and for the human factor behind the organizations. We are proud to open a center in Madrid along with the Rafa Nadal Foundation, so nobody is left out”, says José Bogas, CEO of Endesa.

This is the second donation that Endesa has made to the Rafa Nadal Foundation. The electricity company already made a contribution in July 2020, destined in this case to reinforce the attention to vulnerable groups in the Rafa Nadal Foundation Centers in Palma and Valencia.