Collecting food is an exciting life experience

“If someone were to ask me for good reasons to participate in the food collection, I really wouldn’t know what to say. I’d simply say, try it, spend some hours in front of the supermarket. How do you put into words such an exciting life experience? We’ll be there, and we expect to see everyone. There’ll also be Vincenzo, who is now over eighty. He’s one of the people we bring a parcel to. As usual, he’ll fold the used plastic bags, one by one, so that they can be redistributed. He’ll go on for a while, then he’ll give in to the cold, and leave, bidding farewell with a smile.” We have borrowed these words from Pierpaolo from Rapallo, who posted a photo and a comment on the Live Blog of Varesenews. In their simplicity, they remind us that there is still a lot of beauty in the world.

Hundreds of testimonies and photos from many regions in Italy were sent to Varesenews’s Live Blog. This occasion has both symbolic and concrete value, because it responds to a primary need, like that of food, for many people who find themselves in need, by spreading the culture of goodness and mutual aid.

As usual, Varese Province pulled its weight, with 96 supermarkets involved and more than two thousand volunteers, including a lot of young people, who were coordinated by the non-profit organisation “Non solo pane”. It is still early to do a count of the foodstuffs collected, but the total is probably more than 130 tonnes.