Sergio Olabarrieta, the generous Portuguese angel

Of all the charitable activities that have been carried out in Portugalete in the last decade, many of them have come from Sergio Olabarrieta, president of the Bihotz Aratz athletics club, especially with the excuse of practicing sports. Acts to raise money for childhood cancer or rare diseases, for fibromyalgia or breast cancer. Promoter of the Mikelontxon movement, which has become an annual challenge, this jarrillero received yesterday for all this and much more the XV Noble Villa de Portugalete award, which makes him the ‘Volunteer of the Year’, an award he has shared with the NGO Creating Futures, for the start-up of several schools in Senegal.

This distinction acknowledges that it gives him a certain modesty. «I like it better that they give the prizes to others. Everything I do is because I like it and I don’t expect anything in return. That they recognize you is to feel proud, but those of us who do things from the heart do not look for anything ».

Two years ago Olabarrieta also took the stage in Santa Clara to receive this award, but in this case for the group category, for the entity that he created eleven years ago in the town. “If the club and those who help me did not exist, I would not have been able to do anything,” he says.

He recognizes that helping others is something that comes to him from a young age. “You have to be born with it, and when you are older, having more means, you can put it more into practice.” And he points out that although he runs a sports club, he is much more excited “that the children have fun and have a big heart than to get good results.” He did the latter, which also happens, since just a few days ago his women’s children’s team won the Bizkaia cross country title. A different club promoted by a generous pitcher angel who never tires of reaching out to others. “In this life the most beautiful thing is to see everyone happy.”