The history of the Grandparents Of The Heart

An idea happened to me and they have to help me - there asked Ricardo Scribano, president of the Pensioners' Center and Pensioned Generally Madariaga, the grandparents while they were playing letters, during one morning of middle of 1998.

- Why we do not repair dolls of felt and then we take them to the boys who are hospitalized in the hospitals?-, he asked before the amazement of his companions.

Then, Ricardo began to design a project "to 'transform" the pensioners' center and that this one was serving not only as a simple place of recreation but also as a space to do teaching ", there remembers Lidia Álvarez, his(her,your) wife.

The offer was not so crazy. They were having free time and knew that the felt could be obtained across friends, neighbors or grandsons who already " were big ".

After sewing and to mend a score of dolls of felt during long time, they went to the children's hospital Garrahan, of the city of Buenos Aires, they to be delivered to the boys. " The authorities of the hospital did not understand what was doing there a group of grandparents with gifts and were deriving us across to obtain a permission; Ricardo they was repeating that they were not bombs what we were taking, but toys for the boys. Finally, we could distribute them. The happiness of the children showed us the way. From that day we decide to continue forward and to arm a solidary project ".

Today the "Grandparents of the Heart", as it is called the group, with marked majority of women, they form a part of a solidary consolidated initiative, which came out of the simple arrangement of felt. Every Tuesday and Friday, from the 9.30 of the morning, approximately twenty grandparents meet in the shed of the street Bolaños, in Lanús Este, province of Buenos Aires and arrange all kinds of toys, clothes and footwear, which then they donate to the little schools, homes, geriatrics and hospitals. Not only of the zone, but of the whole country.

In whole, already they take recyclings and delivered more than 40,000 toys and several hundreds of boxes of clothes, games of sheets and apparels. Every task is realized by the tediousness and patience of a grandfather. Often to her sedate pieces come from what at some time they were prams, tricycles, trains, muñequitos, but they work out like new.

"Many people think that a 'donation' is equivalent to be extracted of above things that do not serve or that are broken and old, but here we want to dignify them, do not want him to give to the needy one the surpluses", account Fights while it brushes the entangled hair of a wrist hat prompt will remain perfect to play.

Each one has his respective task, on the one hand the managers of the seam are at the head of four sewing machines, in which they arrange sheets, apparels and restore trousers. On the other hand, there are the restorers of toys, arduous task that goes from rearming cars and dilapidated dolls, painting planes or making the lacking pieces of the puzzles, up to washing and to brush wrists. Also the group is of lustradoras, cleaners and reparadoras of shoes and slippers, and finally, those that finish the work and pack the material in small bags.

Anyhow, not everything "is a work", so comfortable as in his(her,your) own(proper) houses they do not forget of the chats, the snack and up to(even) of anyone that another soap opera: " his one is already our second house and the days that we come are sacred for us. We do not take it only as a work, but as a therapy".

The life is mas beautiful when it helps itself to that the people are happy ¡