FAMILY AND WORK

There can be multiple reasons behind job loss: a complex time, a life difficulties or simply unemployment caused by the economic crisis or pandemic we are going through. "Family and work" is aimed at men and women who struggle to find a relocation in the workplace and who, thanks to this social project, have the concrete possibility of having a job that is synonymous with social redemption and rediscovered dignity.

The socio-educational project, conceived and carried out together with the Diocesan Caritas of Foligno and its operational branch of the Arca del Mediterraneo Foundation, has made it possible to help 23 families in the area through the activation of work grants, that is, work paths lasting two to three months offered to one of the members of the family, concrete work experiences that in some cases have turned into stable job opportunities.

The birth of the project in collaboration with Caritas of Foligno

On 5 September 2017, on the occasion of the International Day of Charity and the anniversary of the death of Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the "Family and work" project officially kicked off.

Thanks to the collaboration with the Caritas Foligno Listening Center, a reference point for in-depth knowledge of the local context and monitoring the needs of families, the first ten people who could start this work experience were identified.

An evolving inclusion project

Since that day, the "Family and work" project has evolved and renewed with the aim of giving more and more concrete help to people in need in the area:

• in December 2017, a few days before Christmas and a few months after the start, the announcement of the renewal of the project for another ten work grants;

• in May 2018, on the occasion of the third anniversary of the Foundation, the Municipality of Foligno with the then mayor Nando Mismetti also joined the project, offering its contribution by identifying needy families;

• on 25 September 2018 the SIR Safety Perugia Volley Club, men's volleyball team from Serie A, and its President Gino Sirci choose donated a match to the Valter Baldaccini Foundation, precisely in support of this project;

• the experience with the SIR of Perugia is also renewed the following year with the second edition of the memorial dedicated to Valter Baldaccini on 13 October 2019;

• a month later, the friends of the Bonsai Club of Foligno were the promoters of a wonderful solidarity initiative: a beautiful fundraising lunch to be allocated to this project;

• in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the activation times expanded but the project did not stop because more and more requests for help arrived.

The stories of redemption

The word dignity recurs over and over in the stories of the project’s protagonists who we have met in recent years. Antonio, who told us his incredible story, found it. It was among the words spoken by Leonardo an unemployed father with two teenage children. He told us that his work grant, activated for the first time in UMBRAGROUP, a private company, has become a permanent employment contract.

And there is also Bianca, who has a past marked by drug addiction and prison, yet, having access to a job grant truly gave her the possibility of a new beginning.

You too can be an active part of the project! How? DONATE TODAY!

Thanks to you, more and more family members will be able to acquire a job and regain their dignity in these difficult times.