School "Bento De Abreu Sampaio Vidal"

Endowment Fund Donor Newsletter - Future and Promotion of Youth – Saint Vincent de Paul

Located about 400 km from Sao Paulo, in the city of Marilía in Brazil (just over 200,000 inhabitants), this children’s center is managed by the Religious of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul in partnership with the Society of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul welcomes every day of the week more than 150 children.

In the morning, from 7 am children are welcomed. Breakfast is offered to them.

About 120 boys and girls aged 5 to 15 come every day to participate to educational activities proposed by Irmão Gilson, the Director of the Center and the educators who work in depth for his children who otherwise would remain on the margins of the school system and would easily fall between the claws of traffickers of all kinds

Fun and sports activities, tutoring (teachers are available to help children). Everything is designed to offer these children the possibility of a better future. At the end of the morning, the meal is offered to all these children who then join their school for the afternoon.

But the activity of the Educandário does not stop there!

In the afternoon, until 5 p.m., teenagers and young people aged 14 to 18 are welcomed at the centre.

Here again, educational activities are offered to these young people in social fragility: bakery-pastry courses, computer courses, administrative procedures as well as sports activities.

Thanks to this remarkable work that has been done for years, many young people who have passed through the Educandário now, having reached adulthood, work and can thus support their families with dignity (parents, spouse, children).

It is thanks to the Educandário that these young people have managed to build a stable life and are well integrated into Brazilian society.