Comedor Comunitario Personitas

Personitas Community Dining Hall, a non-profit association, has continued its work since 2001, meeting the basic needs of food, health and non-formal education of children, adolescents and young people from vulnerable families in the community of Carumbé, in Manuel Alberti, Pilar.

Over the years, Personitas' activity has grown significantly. Today we could describe the organization as a Community Center, beyond continuing to work as one of the central axes, the Food / Nutrition of our recipients.

Our goal today is to be able to move forward with our mission, in line with our three axes of work: Food / Nutrition; Education; Psychosocial.

Mission: We are a space for support, construction and transformation of the lives of children and adolescents, who in an environment of support through creative workshops, artistic activities, sports and education, are formed, developed, and discover their potential.

Thus, we can:

Prevent and combat malnutrition.

To care for the emotional and physical health of children, adolescents and their families.

To educate for integration and inclusion at the primary and secondary level, through indirect education and workshops.

Through the different activities and together with a Psychosocial Team, we try to ensure that the children develop:

Academic skills

Socio-emotional skills

Creative skills

We can say that the objectives linked to the problems on which we work, in the different Axes described: Food, Education and Psychosocial, imply continuous and systematic work. We can speak of solutions achieved in general positive terms on the population with which we work, but there is undoubtedly the need for continuous work and monitoring in many of the groups we address.

Education is a central objective of the Organization, in the face of high levels of illiteracy, school dropouts and lack of support for schooling.

Throughout 2022, a greater number of adolescents who are mothers and fathers began to attend the daily presence at Personitas. From this new segment that is incorporated, we see the need to implement a new Project, whose objective is to support adolescent mothers and fathers, as well as their children.

Both the technical team and the coordination and management began the development of this new Project supported by the Kaleidos Foundation. This Foundation trained the Personitas team focused on this project and once it was approved, they collaborated at the end of 2022 in its implementation. This had a positive impact on the rest of the staff, adolescents and young people who attend the institution, since they were all informed and made aware of it.

With the support of Red Mapa, the Kaleidos Foundation, training was developed for both teachers and beneficiaries, in the promotion of knowledge regarding rights and protection in childhood.

In addition to this project, a specific segment included training on children's and adolescents' rights, preventive measures regarding child protection and comprehensive sexual education.

The implementation of these projects has a high impact and social significance in our population and although it is a task that we have been carrying out for several years now, many of these problems were aggravated by the pandemic, requiring us to provide more support and help to the target population. This involved training ourselves, extending hours and requiring greater human and economic resources.

Regarding the development and scope of the objectives of the Food and Nutrition Axis, from the pandemic until today, and given the increase in attendance by children and adolescents, as well as their families, the delivery of bags of food continued on a monthly basis. Those who attend receive breakfast, a snack and take a lunch box with a main dish and dessert daily to their families.

General Objective of the Project:

To provide a space for support and integration for children and adolescents with their families, supporting them in their comprehensive growth, within a framework of recognition, transmission and exercise of rights and responsibilities, considering their interests and needs. Giving them the possibility of finding new alternatives that facilitate the development of their own potential, as unique subjects.

Specific Objectives:

To provide an informal environment of personalized support for children and adolescents.

To provide basic elements essential to cover basic needs (food, health, hygiene, shelter) within the institution.

To create an affective climate that provides a sense of belonging to children and adolescents, respecting their cultural patterns and personal times, in a framework.