Project “Full belly...happy hearts”

With strong family values and convinced that everyone can contribute to improve our reality, this enterprise was conceived as a solidarity venture.

With this mission we generate an alternative channel of work for the people of the community of Lules, in the Province of Tucumán. We are promoting the artisanal crafting  of consumption products such as mud-oven bread, marmalades, jams, empanadas –all made with local raw material- that are sold at El Almacén or incorporated into the menu of the restaurant.

That’s why every time a guest or customer purchases or consumes our products in the El Almacén, they collaborate with our solidarity project in benefit of “Fundación para Albergues Infantiles (FAI) (Shelter for Homeless Children) and the Soup kitchen “El Oratorio de San Antonio,” making those everyday little miracles radiate in the smile of a child.

In this way we contribute to gradually transforming our social sphere giving from the small and individual to the community at large.

Fundación para Albergues Infantiles (F.A.I.)

The Fundación para Albergues Infantiles (Shelter for Homeless Children) was born in San Miguel de Tucumán in the early  90’s. The need for service moved a group of people from Tucumán that with some private resources and unconditional dedication of volunteers, created and launched the project with only one aim: to give a  home to the unprotected child. This is a  place to give contention, to love, to educate and more than anything, to assist homeless children and those at risk with a history of poverty, drugs, abandonment, and abuse, but with a present full of illusions and smiles and a future of hope.

F.A.I is not any soup kitchen nor a passing place, it is a small home that shelters big hearts. Children and teenagers that used to live on the streets found a home and now are part of a real family.

Each one of these children has a future ahead, that’s why F.A.I. wishes to make their integration into a formerly hostile world easier. Through education of social and cultural values, F.A.I. promotes the development of the children’s creative skills with different workshops such as, carpentry, shoe repairing, painting, drawing, and the creation of Christmas cards.

In October 2002, F.A.I. was able to open a new home, “Albergue El Oratorio de San Antonio,” located in Lules, 20 kilometers from San Miguel de Tucumán. More than 150 youth from that town receive a well-balanced lunch as well as school tutoring, Bible studies, and recreation activities.

In addition to the daily program for children, the Oratorio functions as a Community Center with a school for adults  and workshops for the entire family.

A  group of mothers volunteer in an unselfish manner to run the Soup Kitchen.  They got together with the purpose of ensuring that the Center is run properly, productively and efficiently. Likewise, the whole community collaborates and actively takes part in the activities developed by F.A.I., such as family bingo, celebrations like the Festival of San Antonio; clothing drive, etc.

F.A.I. also assists the families by means of different actions aimed to improve their quality of live.

Thanks to the contribution of companies and the solidarity of the community at large,  F.A.I. receives the necessary resources to survive and mantain the shelters. Also, every year the traditional Antique and Art Sale is held. Besides being a way to raise money to pay for operating expenses, it has also become an important event in the Tucumanos’ cultural and social sphere.