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Dignifying help

150 low income families in Ciutat Vella neighborhood once or twice a month visit the Roure Foundation

Each user has certain number of points and chooses products for their own use

The Rebost of the Roure Foundation are working and that is good news. They have a new industrial sized refrigerator which will allow them to have more cold food and more vegetables and fruit. The fridge has been paid for by a foundation, one of its usual donors. The Roure Foundation works in Ciutat Vella and has its headquarters near the Santa Caterina Market. It looks after the basic needs of the elderly as well as families on low incomes that go to municipal Social Services.

Over time, they have adapted to people’s needs and are rethinking and redesigning their services to improve what they do. The “Rebost”, opened on April 18 and on the food labels there are points instead of prices. Each user family has certain points according to the number of members and they spend them on what they want. “There are many benefits,” explains Soco Delàs, who is responsible for Roure’s Assistance Projects, “people finding what they really need, dignifies the help they get and forces them to self-organize”.

Users of the service don’t have to stand in the street waiting. Each person has an appointment time and day. This also means that they have to act responsibility. The coordinator of the Rebost, Marta Río, says that the users “are also responsible for cooking,” and are alongside a volunteer whose role is to give ideas of what foods can be combined to create a nutritious dish, because in many cases it is evident that users have little training in food and cooking. Soon we will do nutrition and kitchen workshops, because we’ve seen that that it is also needed,” adds Delàs. The question of what they need is clear: “Oil. Lots oil.”The other basic needs include flour, jam, butter and cereal. Hygiene and household cleaning products are also difficult to come by. They have twice as many users as before opening: Many users of the service do work but just can’t make it to the end of the month.

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