Floods one year later, Caritas Italiana: “The commitment continues today” / From the Church / Home

A year ago floods, overflows and landslides due to the heavy rains that caused in Emilia Romagna, between May 2nd and 17ththe death of 17 people in the provinces of Bologna, Forlì-Cesena and Ravenna.

Those events are remembered today in a note Italian Caritas who “immediately followed the events and took action together with the regional delegation of Emilia-Romagna to meet the needs of the affected populations, ensuring a accompaniment that still lasts todaysuch as in the program of social microcredit which grants small loans to individuals and families, in order to support the recovery of those who are still in difficult conditions due to the consequences of the flood”.

Among the supported interventions are those carried out, we read in the note, by Diocesan Caritas of Cesena-Sarsina, Faenza-Modigliana, Forlì-Bertinoro and Imola, including renovations of damaged apartments and houses, restoration of furnishings for retirement homes, schools and youth centers, contributions to families, training internships, art therapy and mindfulness courses for people affected by the flood, psychological supervision courses for operators involved in listening and in the meeting and more. The solidarity of the Caritas network was manifested both with a fundraiserand with the direct commitment of many volunteersespecially young people, like the five boys of the project “It’s close to my heart – Taking care of the present to dream of the future”, who lent a hand to their colleagues from the diocesan Caritas of Faenza-Modigliana in removing the mud.

“Tin bòta (hold on)!”says the director of Caritas of Cesena-Sarsina, Ivan Bartoletti Stella. “This was the motto, expressed in our Romagna dialect, which characterized the reaction of our people in the face of this dramatic event which certainly caused a lot of suffering, but which also generated a lot of solidarity and the will to react forcefully, tucking up sleeves right away in the mud days and now in the longer and more tiring ones of the restart. Our Caritas tried again and again keep doing itto help support the will to don’t give up”.