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Beneficiaries of the Rio Early Childhood Card receive a ride on the cable car and a movie.
Published on 13/05/2026 - 17:25 | Updated
This action is part of SMAS' strategy to offer leisure and cultural options to vulnerable families. Photo: Press release/SMAS
Luciana had never taken her four children to the cinema. Elizane visited Sugarloaf Mountain, one of Brazil's main tourist attractions, for the first time. Both are part of a group of 30,000 families benefiting from the Rio de Janeiro Early Childhood Card (PIC), an initiative of the Rio de Janeiro City Hall, through the Municipal Secretariat of Social Assistance (SMAS), aimed at improving the nutrition of low-income children up to 4 years old. In honor of Mother's Day, celebrated last Sunday, SMAS took 110 women receiving the benefit, accompanied by their children, on two outings: to the Sugarloaf Cable Car Park in Urca, South Zone, on Tuesday (May 12), and to a Kinoplex cinema in the Nova América Shopping Mall, in Del Castilho, North Zone, on Wednesday (May 13).
"The children loved it," said Luciana, a 37-year-old housewife from Inhaúma, smiling, alongside her children aged 3, 9, 11, and 15.
Elizane Ferreira experienced a similar enchantment when, at age 40, she saw the city where she lives from a completely new perspective, from high above.
"It was wonderful. We'd never ridden a cable car before, it was so exciting," she described, hugging her husband and young daughter.
In addition to the social benefit
Through leisure and cultural activities, SMAS aims to offer families receiving the PIC Card more than just the monthly benefit of R$ 200 on the food card. This initiative is part of a strategy to provide these individuals with opportunities to explore parts of the city they might not otherwise visit on their own, and to have different experiences that strengthen family bonds and broaden their horizons.
"Our goal is to promote accessibility and cultural inclusion, and that's why we seek partnerships to make these collective activities possible, as foreseen in our work of supporting families," explained Vanessa Medeiros, responsible at SMAS for the beneficiary families and those being monitored by the Carioca Early Childhood Card program.
One of the partnerships took 30 mothers from the area covered by the 1st CAS (Social Assistance Coordination), which includes the city center, to the Sugarloaf Mountain Cable Car Park, where they spent a morning with their children enjoying the stunning view of Rio. In another initiative, 80 mothers and their children attended a free screening of "Super Mario Bros. The Movie." In this case, families from areas covered by the 3rd CAS (Engenho Novo), 4th CAS (Bonsucesso), and 7th CAS (Jacarepaguá) were included.
For those who organize events like these, the reward is the joy of the families. Like Maitê's, in her mother's lap, Karin Mello, 32, currently unemployed. When asked what she liked most about the cable car, the girl summed it up:
- All!
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