The initiative in collaboration with 'Life is a gift' Onlus, from UCBM food to the poor and homeless
August 3, 2016 - Finally approved in Italy, thanks to the 181 yeses of the Senate, the law against food waste to fight poverty and limit the unsustainable consumption of the planet's resources. Every year in our country 12 billion euros are thrown away in edible food while six million people live below the poverty line and cannot satisfy the need to feed themselves. The legislative provision therefore aims to encourage the donations of excess food by companies, schools or hospitals, granting tax relief for this purpose.
A battle already fought by Banco Alimentare Onlus, a foundation that has been promoting the recovery and redistribution of food in Italy since 1989. The director Marco Lucchini had spoken about it to the students of Food Science and Human Nutrition, recounting the experience of Siticibo, the program that since 2003 has allowed organized catering to donate surplus cooked and fresh food to the poor. It is a developing network in Italy, supported by large-scale retail trade, and to which the Campus Bio-Medico University has also joined for some months.
With the collaboration of Pedevilla, a company responsible for catering in the structures UCBM, around 30 meals a day are offered at the canteen of the 'La vita è un dono' non-profit association. At the headquarters of the non-profit organization in the Aurelio district of Rome, the queue to access a meal is long every day. From Monday to Friday, starting at nine in the morning, volunteers distribute hot dishes to hundreds of poor people. Most are homeless and immigrants from Eastern Europe and India.
But there is no shortage of Italian families, “whose influx - explains the President of the Association Gianfranco Torino - has become evident in recent years, standing at around 15-20%. The collaboration started withUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma – continues Torino – it ensures us a daily contribution in excellent quality conditions to restore dignity to those who have apparently lost it, unable to access primary needs such as food”.
