CoopCastello, cry for help to Anselmo: “Let’s reverse the course that has damaged us”

by Elisa Fiorini

The centre-left mayoral candidate Fabio Anselmo, on the afternoon of Friday 26 April, went to visit the Società Cooperativa Castello in the gardens of via Panetti. About forty people, residents of the complex and others, welcomed the candidate, who listened carefully to the words of Loredano Ferrari and Massimo Buriani regarding the situation that the cooperative is currently experiencing.

“We are a community in dialogue with the territory, through civic sense we offer opportunities to many people with different needs” explains Loredano Ferrari, president of CoopCastello. “We were born in the 70s and currently provide homes to more than 730 families. Our initiative was a response to a series of social needs that arose in this city. Ferrara is a city with many problems, we intend to put our resources into play to remove the “brake” that has been placed on several of our proposals”. The president’s reference then more directly referred to “24 homes with specific characteristics that made them suitable for the living conditions of elderly people, but our proposals were cancelled”. The cooperative wanted to underline the important role that volunteers play, especially in the cultural and recreational activities that CoopCastello offers, as well as the medical clinics available to the community. “Thanks to our volunteers we discovered a series of fragilities in the system. Now we need to increase, not weaken, the sense of protection we can offer the community. We have decided to put our face forward, we make our spaces available to anyone who wants to help us and listen to us. We want to reverse a course that up to now has only damaged us.”

Massimo Buriani also intervened: “In Ferrara there is no way to meet the very high demand, extremely diversified depending on the applicants, for houses. The students don’t stop here, the young couples have no way to stabilize themselves. For us this is an important but sustainable economic commitment, but we need greater collaboration. The municipality has a thousand homes available which are currently empty. The cooperative has three key words: home, environmental sustainability and social cohesion. Up to this moment our strength has been strong, above all thanks to volunteering.”

“This city needs good oxygen, but the feeling is that there is already a lot of it – began Fabio Anselmo – and this cooperative offers a beautiful vision of humanity, something from which not only Ferrara, but Italy is moving away, in this constant cultural drift. Little is said about this wonderful initiative, thanks to your model the future screams humanity and sociability: unfortunately, however, humanity is not in the news. Thank you for giving me a priceless teaching moment that, regardless of whether I win or not, I will carry with me forever.”

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