Almeida: «Madrid, ciudad solidaria» debe «acompañar siempre a quienes tienen peor»

Almeida poses near the figure designed by Elena Huelva, located on Velázquez with Jorge Juan, which is part of

The streets of the Salamanca neighborhood are the setting for an exhibition of seven large-scale Pelone babies, which will be on display for pedestrians until April 20th by initiative of the Jugaterapia Foundation in collaboration with the local council in Madrid. The purpose of this project, visited by the mayor of the capital today, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, is to raise visibility and awareness about childhood cancer, coinciding with the tenth anniversary of the launch of these iconic figures.

An initiative that the mayor considers «extraordinarily necessary» to «help children and families cope better with this painful and tough ordeal and that children can distract themselves,» so «from the local council we wanted to promote the cause and these Pelones.»

The mayor visited the figure located on the corner of Velázquez with Jorge Juan, designed by Elena Huelva, a sarcoma patient and ambassador of the project, who passed away in 2023 and who, in Almeida’s words, «inspired us with his fight, smile, and admirable strength.» Their Pelón child «reminds us of the importance of always supporting those who are suffering» and does so from Madrid, «the city of solidarity where we want to stand with them.»

The pieces, located on streets like Velázquez, Serrano, Ortega y Gasset, or Goya, are 1.6 meters in size and have a description and a QR code to discover the route and purchase dolls. They are inspired by the 38 different models of Jugaterapia Pelones Baby Pelones, sponsored by celebrities like Alejandro Sanz, Shakira, or Paula Echevarría, and have become the top solidarity dolls in Spain, with the collection having already funded 50 projects in 23 hospitals.

The Jugaterapia Foundation was born in Madrid in 2010, from Mónica Esteban’s Initiative to alleviate hospital stays under oncological treatments through play.