The small Abruzzo town of Arsita (near Teramo), which was badly hit in the earthquake of April 2009, received a magnificent Christmas gift from the British bookmaker Stanley International Betting Ltd in the form of a brand new state-of-the-art primary school. The school was built in record time, thanks to the generous donation of 1,383,530 received from Stanleybet the highest single donation received from a foreign private company, according to Guido Bertolaso, head of the Italian National Civil Protection Agency.
The school, named after Stanleybet founder, Lord Leonard Steinberg, was opened on the 15 th December 2009 with Italian film actress Maria Grazia Cucinotti (star of the award-winning film Il Postino) invited to cut the ribbon. Arsita mayor, Enzo Lucci, remarked how touched he had been to receive the solidarity of Stanleybet directors and staff and how the company had been the key player in the reconstruction work in the community.
According to research carried out by the International Observatory of Foreign Press Nathan Il Saggio and the Italian daily La Repubblica, the earthquake zone is still awaiting the delivery of a number of donations promised by celebrities and politicians worldwide to fund the re-building of various buildings and monuments. Those include the pop star Madonna, whose grandparents came from Pacentro (near L'Aquila), Michelle Obama, who pledged to reconstruct the parish church of L'Aquila and the Spanish prime minister Zapatera, who offered to repair the damage to the Spanish fortress. Other fundings for specific reconstruction projects promised by the governments of Canada, China, Japan and Britain have also not yet been delivered.
On the positive side, the GlobalGiving Earthquake Relief and Recovery Fund, sponsored by stars like Jennifer Ariston, Eva Longoria and Madonna, has gathered a total of $85,524 in the USA and through Ebay,co,uk . Many conspicuous donations have also arrived from the world of sport, including Formula 1 drivers and the German football team Bayer Munich.
