Casa Caridad Putting the heart back into Valencia

Upon arrival in Valencia I wanted to fulfil an old desire to get involved with an organisation that works with people living rough. I looked for homeless charities in Valencia on the internet and found the Casa Caridad, an organisation dedicated to helping the homeless. I made contact through their web site and later went to visit them. There I met Eva, the volunteer coordinator, who gave me a tour of their facilities. The main area is the comedor, a large dining room offering a lunch and dinner to around 400 needy people every day. But Casa Caridad also offers many more services including overnight accommodation for 70 people, two children's schools (one in Valencia the other in Torrent), a day centre, washing facilities and a laundrette, all funded by charitable donations. I started volunteering by giving English classes to the other volunteers and working in the comedor for Friday lunchtimes. I enjoyed teaching English to the volunteers but helping in the comedor was what I was really interested in doing. The comedor opens its doors for lunch at 12pm every day. The volunteer's main task is to help the professional catering staff with the management of the diners, we help the less able and the families by collecting the food from the serving counters, we direct diners to the next available seat, make sure there is enough water and serviettes on the tables and at the end of their meal we give out a sandwich so that they can eat in the afternoon, including a halal option for our Muslim patrons. Lunch is a healthy three course meal usually consisting of salad, a rice dish with meat and vegetables, bread and fruit. There is cold water on the tables and also sometimes milk. Today's menu was gazpacho, arroz con verduras, empanadillas, croquettes, a banana and bread. The diners are a varied group: most come from Spain, South America and Northern Africa but some also come from Eastern Europe and the south of Africa. Most speak Spanish and the majority are delighted with the lovely lunch. Today Im working with four other volunteers, Alonso, Lluis and Palmarita all from Spain and Suzannah from England. The work is generally light but every now and again we have a rush. We all like to chat with the diners to check that everything is alright (although some diners like to talk more than others) and so we discover a little about their lives. Because of the relaxed, informal atmosphere it is sometimes easy to forget that you only have to scratch beneath the surface to realise that every day Casa Caridad is dealing with very vulnerable people who are living in desperate situations. So often the reality of the situation gives even the most suspecting, a nasty shock. Some of the regulars are young families who sleep rough, others deal with extreme illnesses on a daily basis with little support and many have slipped through the safety net of the social services. We are often told desperately sad stories and, of course, we have little power to help. It is not, however, the job of the volunteers to help the diners resolve these problems but luckily the Casa Caridad has a large team of council social service professionals dedicated to this; they help the comedor's users find a place to stay, look for work and help them get back on their feet again. However, the volunteers can offer a open ear for those who want to air their problems, which can be surprisingly helpful. Despite all this, the Casa Caridad manages to maintain an air of lightness which patrons, staff and

volunteers respect. On one of my first days, while I was handing out merienda sandwiches I described the options as cheese or chorizo (so as not to give Muslims pork!), as in 'hola, te ha gustado la comida? Quieres un bocadillo de queso o uno de chorizo?'. A queue started forming and so I decided speed up my patter by just stating the contents of the sandwich. That was until a very Spanish looking older man approached...given his appearance I make the choice for him: 'Chorizo!' I said waving the sandwich at him. 'Chorizo tu!' he exclaimed back. I was confused until my colleague came to my rescue, laughing: Apparently Chorizo is a very common way of describing a thief. Luckily he saw the funny side but it served as yet another very real reminder that the perspective of my world and that of the diners can be very different at times. For information about Casa Caridad and how you can get involved: http://www.casacaridad.com/ Richard Townsend