The latest data published by the Statistics Institute of Catalonia (Idescat) reveal that 26% of the Catalan population is at risk of poverty or social exclusion. The Pere Tarrés Foundation, a non-profit social and educational action entity, granted scholarships to more than 12,000 children in a vulnerable situation during 2022 in education and leisure activities. The Foundation awarded more scholarships than ever, which allowed 5,669 children to enjoy summer events and activities. “For us it is very important that all boys and girls can enjoy a full summer period, like everyone elseâ€, highlights the director of the Foundation’s network of socio-educational centers, Rafael Ruiz.
78% of the families that received a scholarship for the foundation’s leisure activities, according to the analysis of their economic and habitability conditions, can be considered at clear risk of poverty or social exclusion. These families come to the Pere Tarrés Foundation through municipal social services. “They know which families are in these vulnerable situations and they send them to us so that we can give them decent vacations,” explains the director of the centers. There is also another access route: the foundation offers places for children to participate in these summer activities. They must prove their family and economic situation.
Of the total bulk of the scholarships awarded, the 5,669 for camp programs and summer camps stand out, granted thanks to the “Cap infant sense colònies†campaign, launched annually by the Foundation and which in 2022 reached the highest figure of the last five years. “It is a very enriching experience. They feel that someone has thought of them, that someone has invited them to participate in this type of activityâ€, explains Ruiz. “His vacations are participating in summer activities. Things that are simple for us are unimaginable for them,†adds Mireia Planas Baucells, social educator at the Raval Socio-educational Center.
In addition to the summer activities, during the year children, from 3 to 18 years old, can go, in the afternoons, to the socio-educational centers available to the foundation. “They come when they get out of school, we give them a snack, they wash their hands and teeth, we leave them free for a while, then we do the afternoon activities and play games in the yard,†explains the social educator. “We offer them a plus so that they can continue training. We have an oral health program with which we diagnose children’s mouths in case they need some type of treatment for cavitiesâ€, adds the director of the network of socio-educational centers.
Rafael Ruiz ends with an appeal to the population. “You have to be aware of what all this can entail for a child with few opportunities, locked up at home and with little relationship with other children his age. Together we have to make it possible for these boys and girls to participate in these activitiesâ€, and he adds: “What we do now when they are young is what we will see when they are olderâ€.
