The "Salesian Solidarity Campaign" has been helping children and adolescents in needy communities in Niterói for four months. And it is through the Youth Center of the "Mamma Margherita" Oratory, a social work of the Salesians, that children and adolescents from these communities receive help. With the arrival of Covid-19 in Brazil, many businesses, companies, and shops have had to suspend their work to avoid gatherings; as did the Salesian social work.
According to the Salesian Social Communication Office, many children of the families who live in the areas surrounding the Salesian Youth Center already before the pandemic had access only to the meals the social work of the Sons of Don Bosco made available to them. Thus, from the beginning of the quarantine, the need arose to start a food donation campaign so that families, too, could feed their children.
“When we started the campaign in March, it was mainly to help the approximately 350 children we serve here in our social work. These children and their families are needy: people from the surrounding communities, with low incomes, socially vulnerable and at risk," explained Fr Marques.
According to Fr Marques, other families subsequently began to seek support from the Salesian social work. "The families of the communities of Alarico and Cavalão learned that we were distributing kits with basic foods and came looking for us. So we decided to register all these people to follow each family's situation more precisely ... There were weeks in which we had 90 families to look after and we had no food basket to deliver. But when the day of distribution came, usually Saturday, we didn't have 90 baskets, but 120! And there were 120 families to take the kit."
The Salesian Solidarity Campaign continues to collect non-perishable foods and personal hygiene items. Donations are left at the reception of the Salesian Institutes of Niterói, which remain open 24 hours a day, to avoid social gatherings.
