The Augustinian Recollect educational centers of Spain celebrated this event with a threefold objective: Raise awareness of the reality minors live in other parts of the world; offer an opportunity to people who want to volunteer, support through a donation; and raise money.
On February 13th the Recollect Romareda School in Zaragoza, capital of Aragon in Spain, organized this event that demanded the effort of many people; preparing the sandwiches and distributing them. Volunteers shared their talent, time and joy as you can see in the photos. As everyone enjoyed their sandwiches in the school yard, everyone was learning about the reality that some minors live in Brazil. Parents were enthused in having their children participate in this special event and didn’t consider it a burden to donate a little extra money for a sandwich.
You can call it edible solidarity: a complete school taking advantage of an activity we all have to do daily which is eating, but this time not only to feed the body, we also fed the mind and the heart with information about the difficulties others have to endure and how we were able to share our love and help them with our donation.
1,150 solidarity sandwiches were prepared, accompanied by 650 shakes and 500 servings of juice. Everyone enjoyed lunch together during recess. It was fun and it also favored the Recollect value of sharing interest for a cause as a community.
All proceeds from the activity will benefit the Esperanza Centers in the Brazilian Amazon which focuses onsocial exclusion prevention, promotion of human and christian values, semi-professional formation, and healthier use of leisure time for children and adolescents of that Amazonian which does not offer much opportunities for their future.
These centers are located in other Amazonian cities (Labrea, Pauiní and Tapaua). They offer free formation through workshops, tutoring for school subjects, meals that are prepared by students who participate in cooking workshops, sports, music, theater. These centers offer the youth better options than what the street offers.
The students in Spain learn about the challenges other kids their age have in other parts of the world. They learn to be grateful for what they have and learn to be supportive with those that don’t have as many opportunities as they do. Everyone is searching for happiness and a better future, but for some it’s more difficult than for others depending where you are born. The students feel great they are able to help those in need by paying for a sandwich.
The Recollect School of St. Augustine in Valladolid, Spain will have the same event on the 21st of February. They have already prepared a special prayer, and they have started to explain the event through a video on their school website.
“This video will help us learn about the reality other children and adolescents live, and it will make us be more aware of how we should help in making other youngsters’ dreams come true.”
