He arrived suddenly, while we were putting the finishing touches on the rooms. And we immediately welcomed him.
Emerald green, the color of the first logo of Progetto Arca, the color chosen to paint wardrobes, doors and windows of our first residential reception center for homeless people with addiction problems, in via Ascanio Sforza in Milan. These are feverish and exciting months in which we work tirelessly and as an already well-tested team to renovate spaces, paint them, furnish them, make them beautiful and welcoming: a promise of change for those who will live there.
The evening of November 15, 1994 will remain forever etched in all of our memories. We are putting the finishing touches to the rooms when we hear a knock on the door at the bottom of the stairs. In front of us appears a young man with gentle manners inside a modest appearance. Tall, very thin, without hair.
His name is Stefano, drugs have reduced him to living on the streets, he heard that we are about to open a reception center and asks to be allowed in. The structure is not ready yet but our hearts are.
That same evening we invite him to dinner at the home of his friend and volunteer Beatrice. Stefano is reserved but the atmosphere, intimate and cheerful, and our unquestioning attentions make him feel immediately at ease. One after the other, he devours four plates of pasta.
He hasn’t eaten for days and, like all the people we have welcomed in these 30 years, he is above all hungry for relationships. Those that the street denies you, that addiction destroys, along with the possibility of maintaining a home and a job.
From that day Stefano will no longer be left alone. We welcome him to the Center, anticipating the scheduled opening times, and we take turns, day and night, to be close to him and help him win his battle, knowing full well that the path will be bumpy and anything but linear.
A week later, on November 22, the long-awaited letter arrives, formally authorizing the start of the reception project with the support of the Municipality of Milan.
The first guest is already here, for the others the door is open. Not once, but as many times as they need it.
