Category:
To the sound of the Verde e Rosa drums, second community kitchen opens in Mangueira
Published on 04/07/2024 - 19:21 | Updated on 04/07/2024 - 19:27
Two more community kitchens were opened in the city this Thursday - Roberto Moreyra/SMTE On June 21, 2022, the first Prato Feito Carioca unit was opened in Mangueira. Two years later, a new branch of the Rio City Hall program was inaugurated this Thursday (July 4) in the community, to the sound of the Estação Primeira drums. The Leonina Pereira Gomes Carioca Community Kitchen was opened at number 7 on Rua Vigário Morato.
And, at the opening, in addition to the feijoada, cake was served to the beneficiaries of the program. This Thursday, the Tuiuti Carioca Community Kitchen was also inaugurated, at number 70 on Curuzu Street, in São Cristóvão. And this Friday (5/7), two more units of the Prato Feito program will be inaugurated: one in Anchieta and another in Pavuna.
– Today is a very important day for me and I am very happy to be here in Mangueira, which holds the history of my family. I left here when I was 14, but I never stopped being a Mangueira native. And I always remember the story my father used to tell: when he was 7 years old, he would go down the hill looking for food, because there were 22 children in my grandmother's house. Therefore, as long as a child does not have anything to eat at home, I will fight to maintain and expand this program – promised the Secretary of Labor and Income, Everton Gomes.
280 meals served, Monday through Friday
In addition to Rosemary de Almeida Figueiredo, Amelinha, 57, Claudia Penha da Silva, 56, Marcos José Miranda de Castro, 52, and Katia Cilene, 51, work in the new Mangueira kitchen. Like the other Prato Feito units, 280 meals are served there, from Monday to Friday.
– This has saved many people. There is nothing better than knowing that we are satisfying someone’s hunger. The project is wonderful because it puts food on the tables of people in need – said Amelinha.
According to Edna Alves dos Santos, 58, the meals at Prato Feito help her family, as she lives only on her deceased husband's minimum wage pension. She had already been getting two meals for herself and her daughter when the Mangueira kitchen was still in the test phase.
Like many of the cooks at Prato Feito, Rosana dos Santos, Evani Pereira and Rosângela da Silva were also unemployed before being hired to work at the Tuiuti Carioca Community Kitchen.
– I got four meals for myself, my wife and my children. This project is essential because I am retired and, as I am 67 years old, I cannot find a job – said Jorge Luis de Lima Soares, a resident of Tuiuti.
With the 12 new units of the Prato Feito program, there will be 32 community kitchens operating in different neighborhoods and communities in Rio. In the two years of the program, 3,7 million meals have already been served to families in situations of social vulnerability.
News
