- Around 20 young adults from Gran Canaria and Tenerife took part in activities to provide company to solitary senior citizens
- Iniciativas Humanas adapted the “Aporto” project, 2019 Social Value Award, to the conditions of the lockdown caused by COVID-19
The objective of this activity is to promote volunteering as a tool for social integration, as it encourages the participating minors to contribute to improving the society they live in, delving into the learning that comes with responsibility and curbing criminal behavior with the appropriate measures, while not losing sight of the objective of education and reintroduction.
The Cepsa director in the Canary Islands, José Manuel Fernández-Sabugo, and the chairwoman of Inciativas Humanas, Caridad Cuyás, recently attended one of the numerous workshops focused on education and raising awareness on volunteering included in the program throughout the year.
On this occasion, it was a motivational talk held at the Centro Atlántico de la Juventud in La Laguna that was attended by a dozen young people from the Fundación Canaria de Juventud IDEO, coming from the Valle Tabares Juvenile Facility and several living facilities where they are on probation.
Fernández-Sabugo congratulated Iniciativas Humanas for the project. “Inspiring hope in young people with volunteering is spectacular work that we are sure will motivate many of them who are currently experiencing difficulties to become part of society, by having a reason to be useful and providing more positive and clear expectations of the future.” “This type of education is encouraging for them and is essential to motivating them and providing guidance for their futures,” he asserted.
Without interruption, not even during the state of alarm caused by COVID-19
For her part, Caridad Cuyás expressed her gratitude during the meeting to the Fundación Cepsa and her satisfaction for the award received that “made it possible to launch this project, providing the young people from Ideo with the opportunity to participate directly in the humanization of society, making them more aware of caring for senior citizens and providing them with company.” “It represents an excellent opportunity for them, which will certainly help them progress,” stressed the chairwoman of Iniciativas Humanas.
Without interruption, not even during the state of alarm caused by COVID-19
From January to the start of March, several minors subject to legal action had the chance to volunteer by providing solitary senior patients at the San José Hospital in Palmas de Gran Canaria and at the Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria Senior Home in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. They will continue to volunteer in person, provided the conditions allow them to.
During the COVID-19 state of alarm, Iniciativas Humanas used electronic methods to place young people subject to legal action in contact with senior citizens who needed company as they were isolated and alone.
In this way, Fundación Ideo minors, coming from the Montañeta Educational Detention Center For Juvenile Offenders (CIEMI) in Gran Canaria and the Valle Tabares Center in Tenerife, wrote encouraging letters that they emailed to the seniors at the El Pino Public Health Center and the Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria Senior Home, respectively. The letters were read to them thanks to the participation of employees at both centers. Minors on probation also took part while confined to their respective homes with their families.
They first received instructions through online training sessions, given the situation caused by the pandemic, to understand the situation of solitude senior citizens face and learn how to address it, in addition to the best way to give them emotional support with their letters. In addition, young people from both CIEMIs produced and donated a total of 330 masks to the senior homes.
Cepsa professionals also took part in the charitable activity undertaken by Iniciativas Humanas during COVID-19 through Voluntas, the company’s corporate volunteering program, by sending encouraging letters to senior citizens in which they shared their daily lives, interests, and future projects, in addition to poems, short stories, photographs, and children’s drawings made by their families to make them feel supported.
