Elsa, Alba and Mireia had been happy when their mother told them that she was going to school to pick up something other than the Telepizza food that they had hated. But when Josefa Labradas returned home with only two menus of lentils and croquettes, the three sisters were disappointed. “And mine?” Asked little Elsa, 3 years old, according to her mother. Labradas had to ask the girls to share the food and he also cooked some macaroni and chorizo so they would not go hungry.
Little Elsa, who learns in a nursery school in the south of Madrid, was not on the list that the Community of Madrid gave to the catering companies that that Monday, May 18, began to feed the children of poor families in the region. . It is the new format that the Government of Isabel Díaz Ayuso has found to replace, after a flurry of criticism, the fast food companies that for two months fed the 11,500 students from families without resources who have recognized the Minimum Insertion Income ( RMI) in the Madrid region.
The Community has resorted in its new format to specialized school catering companies, which make deliveries to schools in the region. It is a somewhat healthier option because the menus include vegetables, fish or fresh fruit, but the solution to the mess has left children from 0 to 6 years old who study in nursery schools in an even worse position because at least before they could receive some food.
Hundreds of parents with children in these schools have found themselves in the same situation as Labradas and no one has given them an explanation to date.
The Ministry of Education explains to this newspaper in an email that the minors of these schools have been left out of the new format because it is “a low number of requests”. The email does not detail how many children have been affected.
The counseling adds another reason in this message: that children from 0 to 3 years old have very specific and adapted menus. “Many of them take purees, crushed foods or special foods, it was concluded that in their case, these foods were provided by Social Affairs and other social entities,” he details, but the affected schools assure this newspaper that all their Students (up to 6 years old) have been excluded and families have not been informed of any other alternative.
The program to feed children from families with RMI during quarantine is managed by the Community of Madrid but is financed by a state fund. It benefits children who during the course receive a scholarship to eat in the school canteens. During the crisis, families in other communities received checks to buy at the supermarket.
At Elsa’s school, El Títere, 35 children from families that receive RMI have been left out, according to its principal, Isabel Rico. Parents who attend this school in the neighborhood of Pan Bendito, in Carabanchel, used to collect the menus after queuing at the Telepizza on nearby Avenida Abrantes, the closest collection point. An employee of the establishment informed them on Thursday, May 14, that this was the last day. No one gave them new information, so they turned to Rico for help.
“They are families in a situation of great vulnerability,” she says. “These are poor workers who are suffering greatly from the pandemic and this food aid should be a relief.”
Elsa’s parents are street traders who have been left with no income other than RMI during the pandemic. Labradas showed this Monday the two menus that the three sisters were going to have to share again. It was turkey nuggets, potato stews with vegetables, and two apples. They are small portions that are insufficient food for the older sisters, Mireia, 14, and Alba, 10. “Why do creatures have to starve?” She laments.
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