Fundació PortAventura

The project promotes the value of leisure and family union moments within recovery therapy.
PortAventura Dreams, which will host about 200 families from all over Spain in 2020, is a unique space designed to enjoy a free six-day stay full of emotions and family activities together.
The initiative also includes top-level allies such as reference children's hospitals in Spain, private companies and other foundations.

PortAventura World, October 22, 2019 - PortAventura Dreams opens its doors today to receive the first families. The village, which will host 200 families annually, is located within the PortAventura World resort and seeks to offer a unique experience to children and young people suffering from serious illnesses and their families.

With an investment of more than 4 million euros, PortAventura Dreams is a physical, different and playful space, but it is also an emotional space, designed to seek a positive effect from the psychological point of view during the fight against the disease, at the same time that allows to feed new moments of family union.

“At PortAventura World, we want to bring real value to society and our environment. Our actions from the social lever act as tools to combine all the needs of change and sustainability of the company. Today, as a reflection of our values, the PortAventura Dreams project is launched ”, said Arturo Mas-Sardá, President of PortAventura World.

The Village, a unique space to be together

The village, a space of 8,850 m2, has six houses of 135 m2, playground, soccer field and gardens that surround the entire environment, as well as a restaurant where food service is offered to hosted families and a multipurpose room where the volunteers of Fundació PortAventura will organize the calendar of activities and workshops for all families.

The village, which has been launched with the arrival of the first families this October 22, plans to receive about 200 families from all over Spain who can enjoy the program annually, a figure that will increase over time.

A leading social project in Europe

The project focuses on children between 4 and 17 years of age who suffer (or have suffered) serious illnesses, included in the list prepared by the Ministry of Health. The families are chosen through a committee made up of doctors, social workers and other experts in the field of health.

Families will enjoy a totally free six-day stay. The package, in addition to accommodation in the villas, includes access to the three parks of PortAventura World, exclusive activities within the village.

A network of top-level allies

To develop this initiative, Fundació PortAventura relies on a network of collaborators: private companies, other foundations and, mainly, hospitals. Reference maternal and child hospitals in Spain, such as the Niño Jesús University Children's Hospital in Madrid, the Sant Joan de Déu Hospital and the Vall d’Hebron Hospital, together with the Red Cross, are part of the project.

“We are delighted to be able to collaborate with the project. The PortAventura Dreams initiative is key because it allows us to integrate recreational activities as part of the treatment process, helping to increase the motivation of children in the final part of the treatment. In addition, the intention is that this week together contribute to reunite the family nucleus to some extent unstructured as a result of a long stay in the hospital, ”said César Gómez, Manager of the Child Jesus Hospital of Madrid.

Likewise, the project has founding donors whose contribution is making possible the materialization of PortAventura Dreams: El Corte Inglés, Barça Foundation, Cruyff Foundation, ”la Caixa” Foundation, LaLiga Foundation; Probitas Foundation, LG, Mango and Mediapro. The objective is that, in the future, the network of collaborators will be expanded.

Fundación LaLiga also participates in the project through a collaboration agreement to develop different initiatives that will bring sports and leisure to vulnerable young people in the Village facilities. “We are very excited about this wonderful project that we started with Fundacio PortAventura in which we join efforts and synergies for social inclusion,” said Olga De la Fuente, Director of the Laliga Foundation.

The value of leisure within recovery therapy

The project, conceived as a recreational and interaction space, aims to generate a positive effect on recovery from a psychological point of view, while at the same time allowing to nurture new moments of family union.

For this reason and, with the objective of scientifically confirming the benefits of leisure in health, Vall d'Hebron Hospital will carry out a pioneering psychological study that will try to measure the impact of a playful therapeutic experience, outside the hospital environment, in the Emotional well-being of sick children at the final moment of their treatment and that of their relatives. The study starts with the arrival of the first families in the village.

“There is little research on the impact of brief interventions that combine recreational and therapeutic aspects in the well-being of children with serious illnesses and that of their families. This pilot study will allow us to measure these aspects, expand scientific knowledge and define new action strategies aimed at improving the quality of life of patients with chronic diseases and that of their families, ”explained Dr. Josep Antoni Ramos Quiroga, Head of Psychiatry Service of the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital.

The PortAventura Foundation commitment

Since 2011, the Foundation has collaborated with 814 related entities and has granted grants worth 6,300,000 euros through numerous projects. In addition, over these years, more than 68,000 children and adolescents at risk of exclusion have benefited from the different programs.

“The arrival of PortAventura Dreams allows us to continue generating real value for society. We are convinced that the project will have a very positive effect on the lives of many families, ”said Ramón Marsal, President of the PortAventura Foundation.

Fundació PortAventura channels and promotes the social action of PortAventura World, the backbone of the company's global Corporate Responsibility strategy focused on the permanent search for economic, social and environmental balance.

About PortAventura Foundation
The Foundation, which continues the work of PortAventura in the field of Corporate Social Responsibility, was founded in 2011 and focuses its efforts on supporting projects dedicated to children and young people at risk of social exclusion from the territory for health or economic reasons.

Collaborators

The collaboration of friends, foundations, companies and entities, as well as yours, help us develop the Dreams Village project to continue receiving more families.