The Arrecife City Council has ceded a warehouse in Puerto Naos to Calor y Café, which had requested a larger space to serve all the people who come to the association to eat. The key handover ceremony to Sister Ana, the main person in this group, took place this Friday at 12.15 pm at the Arrecife City Hall, as confirmed by the socialist councilor Alberto Morales.
The warehouse is located in Puerto Naos, in the commercial area. Calor y Café will be able to use this space to feed the dozens of people who come daily to receive food. In this way, the Arrecife City Council responds to the request of Sister Ana, who said that it was "impossible" to serve so many people in the premises that the group has on Juan de Quesada street, next to the island's Hospital.
Calor y Café has been serving people and families who request food and help for more than 13 years. Something that in recent months, due to the general situation of crisis, unemployment and lack of resources that is experienced in Lanzarote, has caused a significant collapse for this association. "We serve almost 70 people daily in the dining room in three rooms that do not add up to 50 meters. Some eat standing, others sitting, others on top of boxes and others anywhere if they find it," reported from Calor y Café.
For the association it is very important, "to serve them with dignity", but due to the increase in people who need their help, "it is impossible for us due to the limited space available." For this reason, he made a desperate request to the Arrecife City Council with the aim of obtaining a larger space to shelter those most in need.
It is a warehouse of more than 500 square meters located in the area
industrial of Puerto Naos, where the works are expected to begin in a few days
to install the kitchens, showers and other facilities of the
new dining room.
According to Alberto Morales, with "the transfer of this premises the City Council of
Arrecife intends to respond to the needs of this association that
had been demanding a decent space where they can serve the dozens of
people who come every day to their facilities" on Juan
Quesada street.
From Calor y Café, its manager, the Asturian nun Sor Ana, has
expressed "her joy at being able to have a new dining room" that
will alleviate the difficult conditions in which it currently works
this group saturated by the lack of space. A group formed by
21 volunteers who have been helping drug addicts and the socially excluded for more than 13 years
social and who is now overwhelmed by the crisis to feed
more than 70 people every day.
Sor Ana highlighted "the generosity of the Arrecife City Council
to provide a space where people can be cared for with a
minimum of dignity because they are really living in a difficult situation"
and stated that for Calor y Café, this new dining room, "had become
a priority".
Basic needs
The Calor y Café Center opened its doors 13 years ago to direct its services to people with problems of drug abuse and socially excluded to, on the one hand, meet the most basic needs of hygiene, food and contact with "normality", and on the other, promote healthy behaviors that help people who come there, to move away from drug use. It also acts as a bridge service, facilitating the referral to socio-health resources for people cared for in the center.
Calor y Café proposes, therefore, its intervention from the social sphere, health and therapeutic, from a model of harm and risk reduction, prioritizing the objective of minimizing the risks associated with addictive behavior.
