COMMUNITY PROJECTS

In 2009, Mr. Miguel A. Torres travelled to Chengdu, Sichuan Province, to host the Reconstruction Ceremony of the TORRES Hope Primary School. Since the devastating Sichuan earthquake disaster in 2008, the Miguel Torres Foundation has donated RMB500, 000 to the construction of the TORRES Hope Primary School, which will bear the official name of The Wangcang Fuqing County TORRES Hope Primary School.

The Miguel Torres Foundation was created in 1986 with the objective of reflecting Torres’ philosophy within wine-making: To contribute to the well-being of our people and the progress of society at large, and to preserve and protect the environment in which we operate. With this in mind, the Miguel Torres Foundation has worked with under-privileged children around the world and has built schools and homes in various countries since 1999. TORRES Schools have been built in Burkina Faso, The Philippines, the United States (California), India (Vicente Ferrer Foundation) and Chile (Curicó).

On the afternoon of 12 May, 2008, a massive earthquake measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale struck Sichuan Province. Over 40 million people in the area were affected, including nearly 4 million in the capital city of Chengdu. An estimated over 60,000 people lost their lives, including thousands of students and teachers caught in school collapses.

Upon hearing the horrific news, Mr. Miguel A. Torres made an immediate decision that the Miguel Torres Foundation would donate money for the construction of a new primary school in Sichuan Province. Appointed by the Miguel Torres Foundation, TORRES CHINA instantly contacted the Sichuan Provincial Youth Development Foundation regarding donations and the construction of an earthquake-proof school in Guangyuan City, Sichuan Province (Wangcang Fuqing County). The Hope Primary School was named after TORRES. The construction began June 2009 and completed by September 2009, before the beginning of the fall academic semester. The newly rebuilt school gathered 400 students, twice the number it used to accommodate before the earthquake.