From the solidarity store to the space for young mothers, up to social tailoring: those who, due to Covid, found themselves in poverty, or almost, since yesterday can contact the “InOltre” space in Baranzate, a service hub born in a former industrial warehouse thanks to a personal donation from Diana Bracco, the contribution of the Cariplo Foundation and the commitment of the La Rotonda association.
The inauguration of the structure, blessed by the Archbishop Monsignor Mario Delpini yesterday in the Municipality of the town on the outskirts of Milan, was anticipated by the opening, at the beginning of March, of theSolidarity emporium, a solidarity minimarket where you do not pay with money but with a points card, assigned by Caritas volunteers according to the composition of the family unit and the socio-economic situation. That of Baranzate is the eleventh born of the network of emporiums managed in Lombardy by Caritas. Baranzate is the first municipality in Italy with more resident migrants than the population (33% out of 11 thousand inhabitants), in an area where a total of 72 different ethnic groups live together.
“This is not a simple reception center – he explained Diana Bracco, president of the Bracco Foundation– but a place where assisted families participate in the social fabric, which we want to be more responsive to integration, and for this reason we are working on various fronts: work, health, training and sport ”.
Nello “Space mom baby“, In addition to the distribution of free diapers and baby food, mothers from different cultural backgrounds are followed during the weaning period by a pediatrician and two nurses; young people from assisted families have training internships or help with their after-school homework at their disposal.
A part of the structure houses “Boutonniere flowers”, A high fashion tailoring workshop born from the work of 4 foreign seamstresses, all arrived in Italy to escape from situations of hardship and marginalization. The space also includes a 130 square meter event room with 100 seats, available for rent for cultural events aimed at the inclusion and involvement of citizens, under the direction of the “InOltre” Foundation, of which Diana Bracco is honorary president.
An example is the Photo exhibition inaugurated in these days: “All hours of the world – Portraits of welcome, relationship and care in the multiethnic Baranzate”, Which collects the photographic portraits of 12 Italian and foreign families of Baranzate made by the photographer Gerald Bruneau. The intervention of Baranzate with the Emporium of solidarity and the “InOltre” space is a model of collaboration between entrepreneurship and the third sector which also sees the involvement of Opera San Francesco, the Fondazione 13 Marzo di Paolo Barilla, Mapei, Belfor Italia, the Francesca Rava NPH Italia Foundation and Leroy Merlin who contributed to the creation of the “Fai da Noi” Emporium.