Today I want to write an appreciation post.Hoy quiero escribir un post de agradecimiento.

I want to thank Mikel and Mentxu, real social entrepreneurs, for letting me be a part of your family and, specially, of WOP, whose work I’ve been supporting for a few years, and attitude (Mikel’s and Mentxu’s) I envy many days of the year. So, THANK YOU.

Thanks to Ruth too, for making things easier for me with the more than 200 volunteers we had to coordinate on the 6^th Estropatada of WOP. Because for those who don’t know, we were more than 200 people who made possible that the estropatada went that well.  And that’s thanks to some heads and hands that moved everything from the beginning so that the 17^th of June of 2018 everything went how it was supposed to, even though things can always be improved. So, together with Ruth, THANK YOU to the volunteers too for making things easier in a very hot and busy day.

Because, throwing 30.000 WOPatos (ducks) to the estuary of Bilbao to raise funds to research about rare neurodegenerative diseases it’s not an easy task, even though some may think like that. You have to know that the ducks thrown from the Deusto Bridge ARE NOT left on the estuary once the race is over; the chips they have aren’t put by themselves (nor do they remove them once the race is over); they don’t arrive to the finish line by themselves because some of them don’t see very well and need guiding in their way to the finish line; the tables aren’t set and removed by themselves, the hamburgers, sausages, drinks, pintxos and more aren’t prepared alone; kid’s faces aren’t painted alone; the songs aren’t sung alone, the dances aren’t directed alone and the event isn’t managed, presented and directed alone; the sandwiches of the volunteers aren’t made alone; the merchandising stands aren’t prepared alone; and there are many NOs that have become a YES due to the good work, the good attitude, the willingness and the good mood there is on an event like the estropatada.

Therefore, as I’ve been doing for the last couple of years, this year I also challenged myself to sell 250 WOPatos, not for the WOPatón, which I already have a few (and I’ve gifted others), but for the pride of knowing that my effort, even if it’s small, contributes to the research about a cause that I support strongly, and which is not researched enough.

I can’t end this post without THANKING many people who have contributed to the research buying each of those 250 ducks. The truth is that I’m more than proud to see, another year, how generous are the people around me, the vast majority colleagues of the University of Deusto, but also personal friends and colleagues from other institutions. It’s a pleasure to know that you’re there, collaborating with the cause and it’s even better to know that you’re almost waiting for the ducks, even though you already have a few, because it’s not about them, right?

THANK YOU, specially, for not saying the well-worn sentence for some people: “another duck? I already have one from last year”.

Enjoy these sunny and warm days, we don’t know how much they’re going to last.

Translated by María Ubierna Quintanilla and supervised by Arantza Arruti.