Coronavirus crisis: 101,942 people from Madrid, in the ‘hunger queues’ of the capital | Madrid

The so-called hunger tails are increasingly common in our streets, at the door of our houses. Less than two months after the state of alarm was decreed, a little more than 100,000 Madrid residents eat thanks to the help of social services and neighborhood networks in the 21 districts. Seeing people endure the dead time in line to get milk, rice, cookies, potatoes … is something that until now we saw on the news. The weight of stigma and shame in Madrid in 2020 is only overcome by the echo of an empty stomach.

A video recorded on Saturday with dozens of people in a row to collect bags of food has raised blisters as it went viral. “Gentlemen, this is not Venezuela,” narrates the author of the images in Aluche. The Neighborhood Association of that neighborhood in the Latina district offers food these days to some 3,200 people. It is one of the dozens of citizen networks that distribute food to families hit by the pandemic in the capital without going through municipal channels. As a result of the controversy of the video, it has been known that at least 101,942 people receive food these days in the city of Madrid.

On the one hand, 81,677 belonging to 30,043 families who coordinate the consistory’s social services. On the other, 20,265 out of 5,828 families are reached by groups outside the administration, according to a balance drawn up from March 15 to April 30 by the Regional Federation of Neighborhood Associations of Madrid (Fravm). “Altruism is appreciated but this must be led by social services,” says the delegate of the Families, Equality and Social Welfare area, Pepe Aniorte, while asking these associations for the data of the families to which they provide aid.

The Fravm has collected data from 58 neighborhood networks – three others have not offered theirs – with more than 6,000 volunteers distributing food in the 21 districts. Most of what they distribute comes through individuals, small businesses and companies or economic donations, since many already have a checking account in which they can make income. Only 16% of these networks count part of the products provided by the corresponding District Board among their grants. For this reason, the Fravm calls for great social intervention from the municipal administration and the opening of solidarity kitchens in the districts, as has already been done with that of the Casa de Campo Hospitality school or that of Santa Eugenia.

Target families often face the need to receive food in many cases for the first time, according to Fravm. “No one doubts that the capital needs a far-reaching public intervention to meet the basic needs of its population,” says the report. They also highlight that the social crisis of the pandemic has reoriented the work of most of these associations, which now they focus on alleviating the food emergency. Computer or yoga classrooms are now occupied by flour or macaroons.

“This is a totally new reality that has come with the crisis,” says Pepe Aniorte. Behind this harsh new reality appears an institutional machinery that has not reacted as well and quickly as some want. “There is an uneven operation between some municipal boards and others,” says Quique Villalobos, president of the Fravm. Many times, he explains, it is the neighborhood associations that refer families to social services and others are the social services themselves that send families to these neighborhood networks “when they are not able to cope.” He adds that the coordination tables promised by the City Council in the 21 districts to solve those problems are still not working. “That has not yet arrived.”

In the shadow of the controversy of the video in Aluche, the delegate of the social area, Pepe Aniorte, visited this Monday the Nuestra Señora del Lucero school, in the neighborhood of the same name. A thousand meals are prepared daily in his kitchen, which are later distributed from the parishes. That of the Costa Rica school has also been enabled. This district of Latina, with 10,876 people from 3,322 families, is the one that receives the most aid in the form of food from the Consistory. The least, Moratalaz, with 879 people from 767 family units. In the data of the Fravm the people who receive help in Latina are more than 3,500. This district is only surpassed by Centro, with more than 4,000 citizens eating thanks to neighborhood networks.

The City Council asks them to join the management structure of municipal social services grants. “The objective is that no entity goes on its own,” says Aniorte. “Who has to lead the response is the public administration with social services” and “I ask them to pass the data” on the families to “work side by side”.

More donations than ever

Much has to change things so that, in the short term, neighborhood networks work hand in hand with the City Council. The Aluche neighborhood association has received more donations this week than ever following the video of the controversy with the queues of people to collect food. They assure that they did not record it.

Its president, Ana del Rincón, accuses the City Council of not helping them and of not telling the truth. She assures that on April 24, a social worker from the district sent them an email to take care of 23 families because they are saturated. “The City Council only says one thing certain, that it gives us a place in a cultural center more than a kilometer from our association,” says Del Rincón to explain why they have rejected it.

The councilman of the district, Alberto Serrano, from Ciudadanos as well as Aniorte, defends himself. He assures, contrary to what the president of the Aluche association says, that they have been given food and that the premises have been disinfected. In any case, try not to argue and praise the “great work” they do. What’s more, he recognizes that they are overwhelmed. “Social services do not have the capacity to provide food in an emergent way for everyone” and “together we have the capacity to withstand the enormous pressure we have.”

Ana del Rincón, a member of the IU who has been politically pointed out, has already bought this Monday part of what they will distribute again next weekend: 500 kg of rice, 500 pasta, 500 lentils, 500 liters of oil. ..

Information about the coronavirus:

– Here you can follow the last hour on the evolution of the coronavirus.

– The coronavirus map: this is how cases grow day by day and country by country

– Coronavirus action guide

– All measures against the coronavirus in Madrid

– In case you have symptoms, the Community of Madrid recommends avoid going to the health center except in cases of extreme need, use the web coronamadrid.com and the phone 900 102 112

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