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The headquarters of the Yo Soy Tú association's social kitchen in Bailén-Miraflores is filled daily with hundreds of people who lack the economic resources to maintain an adequate daily diet. From midday until approximately four o'clock, every day from Monday to Saturday, more than 70 volunteers work together to distribute much-needed food, a job carried out by this association since July 2016. A social, community-based activity that has grown steadily in recent years as more and more families come for some of their aid and support: from 2020 to 2024 the list has grown by nearly 1,000 people.
Yo Soy Tú's president, Emilio Gómez Ojeda, reviews the current situation: "After Covid no one has recovered and we keep adding people who are unemployed or who can't make ends meet if they pay the rent or the mortgage." According to data provided by Yo Soy Tú, for the year 2024 some 1,800 people were registered on their books, coming daily to the headquarters to collect lunch menus and the extra special school breakfast for the little ones. "If they are absent more than three times in a week, we cancel them directly and add some of those from the waiting list, of which there are more than 200", says Gómez Ojeda.
From the little more than 1,000 beneficiaries that the association had in 2020, the figure has risen to 1,800 in the year just gone, with 2022 being the month with the most users in the history of this social enterprise when they reached 2,000 people a day. Of the active files 897 are women, of which 470 are immigrants and foreigners, 32 with functional diversity and 10 are homeless. The total number of men is 903 and of these immigrants and foreigners constitute 466, 38 with functional diversity and 33 are homeless. Although these figures are worrying to the association, among the most alarming data is the one pertaining to children from newborns to 15 year-olds as they number 537, almost a third of the total number of beneficiaries listed with the association. "We have from newborn children to 90 year olds", the president points out when taking stock of the data.
Of the 1,800 people they serve 109 are over 65 and some of them are offered home delivery for their meals: "There are 23 people for whom we take food home, either because of illness or because of problems travelling to our headquarters. There is a lady in her eighties who comes from the neighbourhood of La Unión and we have obtained a card for her so that she can get here by bus, although when it is not possible we take it to her home", says Gómez Ojeda.
Since 2024 another project has been approved to create additional resources for social care and guidance counselling thanks to the support of La Caixa foundation, which also collaborates with the canteen together with other entities such as Bancosol, which in turn provides 80% of the food they distribute. This employment drive is a new initiative that forms part of the wide-ranging programme of Yo Soy Tú's ongoing work. Thanks to this employment push, two new professionals have been hired: a psychologist and a social worker to guide, orient and accompany the canteen's registered users along the path of motivation to make a change in their lives. According to the association, of the 92 people who participated last year, 62 have found work.
Another of the basic needs covered by the association is to provide clothing, footwear, nappies, household furniture and other items to those who require them, even if they are not users of the organisation for meals. Under the name 'El ropero solidario gratuito' (the free solidarity wardrobe), it is available from Monday to Friday and so far 3,220 people have passed through it, collecting approximately 9,600 kg of clothes. "Many private individuals from all over the province donate to us and we wash and iron the clothes so that they are ready for handover. Every day families leave with bags full of things, we even donate to Madre Coraje when we accumulate too many clothes that we can't store", says the president.
They also have a collaboration agreement with Farma10, a pharmacy located near their headquarters in Bailén-Miraflores. "A card is given to people with a clear need of economic precariousness so that they can have discounts when buying medicines. The costs of this discount are shared between the pharmacy and the association." In 2023 Yo Soy Tú paid a total of 4,823 euros for this purpose.
The social work carried out by this association, which each year attends to more and more people, is accompanied by a screening process that selects those who truly have no resources or access to decent food. "A lot of documents are requested, such as pay slips, debts, rent payments, mortgage, electricity, water.... It is a very specific selection process but it gives us the best results because we reach those who need it most, although there are many who ask us to let them in and we cannot admit them because we cannot reach more with the resources we have", says Emilio Gómez Ojeda, his voice tinged with regret.
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