RANA Roars into the 1920s to Help Fund its Childhood Sexual Abuse Prevention Mission

By David L. Thomas, Jr. and Kathryn Hayward, MD

This past Friday night we attended the annual gala to support RANA, a Mallorcan non-profit organization that works to prevent childhood sexual abuse and treat adult survivors. RANA is now over 10 years old and this year won the coveted Ramón Llull award for humanitarian work in the Balearic Islands (Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera).

RANA and most other social service organizations had a difficult time during the economic downturn of the past few years, the “crisis” as it is called here. Thanks to the generosity of Alec and Hilaria Baldwin in 2014 and 2015, RANA not only weathered the crisis but continued to grow and published an English translation of its book used for teaching elementary school children. Significant gifts were made through The Alec Baldwin Foundation facilitated by International Integrators.

This year the gala was sold out and support for the organization´s mission also was evident in the silent and live auctions as well as the raffles. And governmental and other support is beginning to be available again.

But let´s face it. The gala was FUN. Its theme was the Great Gatsby and the 1920s, complete with props for each person who attended as they were photographed upon arrival. Liz Homberg, president and founder, is an American who has raised her children in Mallorca with her German husband, Karl. She and the rest of the RANA team were in high spirits and the effort was also supported by 17 teenagers who volunteered their time to assist with the logistics of greeting patrons, selling raffle tickets, holding auction items and circulating the silent auction bidding lists. Those attending came from Mallorca and other parts of Spain as well as from at least 15 other countries.

The city of Inca where we live was well represented, including by the 8 people who attended with us this year. Among them were Pere Rotger Llabrés, former mayor of Inca and former President of Parliament of the Balearic Islands, and his wife, Catalina Genestra Villalonga, who leads the 4 COS4S initiative for International Integrators.

RANA will continue to have challenges in meeting the needs of children, their families and adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse and in raising the financial support required to pursue its mission. The strong show of support at the gala is an indication that its collaborators are ready, willing and able to help fund and grow the organization.

David L. Thomas, Jr. co-founded and developed International Integrators in concert with his passionate desire to initiate change in the way that we care for ourselves and each other, and the way we interact with and affect our natural environment. He brings his background as an attorney and businessman, and his expertise in nutrition and plant-based cooking and eating, to the collaborative effort to identify, mentor and support leaders in Integrative Health. David holds a BA in Spanish Literature from Haverford College, a JD degree from Georgetown University and a certificate in plant-based nutrition from the T.Colin Campbell Center for Nutritional Studies and Cornell University.

Kathryn Hayward, M.D. was a primary care internal medicine specialist at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School for 20 years. She now lives in Mallorca, Spain, where she practices Integrative Health in the United States and elsewhere through Odyssey Journey: A Collaborative Approach to Wellness, and is co-founder of International Integrators, a community devoted to the global promotion of Integrative Health.