- With this initiative, both institutions promote the social integration of the group with mental health problems
The participants met to jointly beautify this center, which was created to care for people with severe mental disorders who, when they were over 60 years old, were outside Atelsam's care resources. The meeting also served to promote the creation of bonds among the attendees, as well as to promote environmental awareness.
The activity consisted of designing the structure of the garden, preparing the plants, transplanting them into decorative pots and placing them on wooden trellises on one of the walls of the center, creating a natural decoration that brings freshness to the environment. Labels were made to help care for the planted species, with the added aim of promoting organization and responsibility among the center's users.
Belén Machado, head of Fundación Cepsa in the Canary Islands, stressed the importance of these meeting spaces that "allow our volunteers to get to know very diverse groups up close and put themselves in their shoes, making visible the problems they face in their day-to-day lives. Volunteering generates bonds, empathy and satisfaction, and in our experience, those who try it, come back." She also highlighted that this activity is part of the 24 hours a year that Cepsa offers its professionals to carry out volunteer activities during working hours, thus demonstrating the company's social involvement in the community.
Ana Concepción, manager of Salud Mental Atelsam, said that "it was a pleasure to share the creation of this vertical garden with volunteers from Fundación Cepsa and the users of our Tajinaste Day Center. At Salud Mental Atelsam we believe that corporate volunteering is important and helps us to create a more inclusive, supportive, and responsible society for people with mental health problems. With determination and perseverance, anything is possible. Thanks to the Fundación Cepsa team for their commitment."
The opportunity for this volunteering initiative arose as part of the agreements reached in the Third Island Week of Corporate Volunteering organized by the Cabildo of Tenerife through Sinpromi. Fundación Cepsa was one of the institutions participating in this event, where it signed five collaboration agreements with five NGOs, which have resulted in corporate volunteering actions.
