Barça Experience in Haikou and Mission Hills Group collaborate with Barça Foundation to donate 50,000 medical masks

The Barça Experience in Haikou -a complex dedicated 100% to Barça and inaugurated almost two years ago on the Chinese island of Hainan- and the Mission Hills Group that are partners in the project, are collaborating with FC Barcelona and the Barça Foundation to help combat the spread of coronavirus, through the providing of 50,000 masks for medical use to different hospitals in Catalonia and the Barcelona Medical Association (CoMB). 

The Mission Hills Group have donated this medical equipment, which arrived in Catalonia this week from China, and which was delivered today to the different centres by the Barça Foundation. To carry out this action, the Barça Experience in Haikou contributed by raising funds through various initiatives. The Barça Experience complex has donated the income derived from the sale of tickets for three months, as well as a percentage of income from the sale of different FC Barcelona shirts in its store. They have also launched a limited edition of 1,000 shirts with the slogan ‘Stronger Together’, the same as those worn on February 15 by the children who accompanied the players onto the pitch against Getafe as a message of support when China was at the centre of the pandemic. 

Catalan logistics company Serveto, who since 2013 have been a partner to FC Barcelona’s professional sports teams, have also contributed by transporting all of the material to the different medical centres. 

Working together with partners and collaborators 

This initiative is part of the collaborations being carried out by the club and the Barça Foundation with its Chinese partners and collaborators, in the face of the healthcare emergency caused by the coronavirus.

Among these actions is that carried out with insurance company Taiping Life Insurance, who have donated 30,000 masks through the help of the Foundation. These have gone to the Department of Health, with the intention of them being delivered to nursing homes. The Foundation have also agreed upon a plan with with technology giant Tencent, for the management and distribution of part of the material for Catalonia, including that in the World Anti-Pandemic Fund launched by the company. Through the fund, 100 million dollars will be allocated to the purchase of medical supplies.

Commitment to the fight against Covid-19

To help deal with the spread of the coronavirus, the club have made their facilities available to both health authorities and research projects. They have launched a telephone hotline and face-to-face monitoring program with Red Cross volunteers, and checked up on members over the age of 80 with the aim of helping, informing and assisting them with whatever is necessary. FC Barcelona, with the support of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, have provided the ‘Beques Menjador’ programme, which guarantees a meal a day for children through the Generalitat’s Department of Education, facilitated access to food for families, and provided support for the homeless and the elderly through the Catalan Red Cross. 

This commitment to society has been underlined with an emblematic action: For the first time in its history, the club have given the naming rights to the Camp Nou for the 2020/21 season to the Barça Foundation, to achieve income that will be invested in research projects and measures for the fight against Covid-19 in Catalonia and the rest of the world. 

A solid alliance 

FC Barcelona and the Mission Hills Group joined forces in 2018 and opened their first large complex dedicated to Barça outside of Barcelona. It features an exhibition area, a shop and a Barça Axademy Pro. The resort closed in January when the COVID-19 situation in China worsened, however, it reponed to welcome visitors in March. The Barça Academy Pro, which was inaugurated in February 2017 in the presence of President Josep Maria Bartomeu and Ronaldinho, among other stars, is currently the only one of the 53 Barça Academies worldwide that is open, after returning to training on Saturday 11 April. Activity had been postponed due to the Chinese New Year break and the country's lockdown to contain the coronavirus.

Mària Vallès, General Director of the Barça Foundation 

 "The Barça Foundation has, since the start of the pandemic, worked with Barça's partners to acquire medical material,and in this case Mission Hills, our partner in the south of China, offered us medical masks which have arrived today. We are very grateful because there is still a great need for this type of medical material in our country." 

Jaume Padròs, President of the Barcelona College of Doctors 

“We can only be positive with regards to this type of donation that reach us via the Barça Foundation because we have to take into account that it is a complementary or supplementary function. The truth is that lots of things have worked because of people, organised bodies or not, who have had the ability to react to the situation in an extraordinary way and that has helped to fill the gaps during the crisis with these types of initiatives."