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ePaper created 2014-06-22, 15:43:25 | version 1.31.00
12 News, Views & Sunshine TheCanaryNews.com El Periódico Inglés de Gran Canaria Summer 2014 The CAIPSHO Project is located in a shelter for the homeless under the San Fernando Church near Maspalomas. They offer a highly necessary “day service “ to cover basic needs such as food, toiletries and personal care for those admitted to their defined pathways so as to develop personal assistance, promotion and integration, through educational intervention. They essentially help to rescue vulnerable people from living on the street. Their service is unique and essential in the development of basic rights for the most vulnerable in society, enabling those most at risk to attempt to regain dignity and autonomy. Due to the specificity of the group of homeless people represented by the project, the promotion of social education at the centre is inherent to accessing the coverage of basic needs they provide such as food and personal care, and it is understood that when a person requests access to their programme, due to their lack of socioeconomic resources or family support to meet that need, they accept a personal itinerary prepared jointly with the in house technical team, in order to find alternatives to their social status, improve their living conditions, minimize the time spent in a state of vulnerability and dependency. There are no free rides. The project arose from an initiative by a group of volunteers in the South of Gran Canaria, in 1999. Facing a large influx of people camping out in the street who had no access to social or economic resources due to various forms of social exclusion, work began on a welfare principle, which was to meet the needs of these people. Over time, this initiative has consolidated to include various business partners, and access to public and private grants, allowing for development and recognition of the projects work. The CAIPSHO Project is the only homeless care resource on the south of the island. At present, the team is conducting a study to analyse the homeless population in the areas covered. This currently indicates an increase in homeless numbers over previous years. CAIPSHO aims to: - Improve the life and social conditions of subsistence needs, responding primarily to a lack of food, hygiene and personal care, with an accompanying multi-service team, encouraging personal and social growth to achieve autonomy. They do this by trying to improve vital social conditions for those who claim subsistence need, with the help and support of their service team, encouraging personal and social growth to achieve autonomy. For many, these three ladies are the only last resort. The project offers the following services among many others: Breakfast, Shower facilities, utensils for personal care (washing and / or medication, underwear), Laundry, Hairdressing, Lunches, Social educational work and much more. Currently, the centre is able to offer up to 30 places with access to full services (food, health and rehabilitative care) normally covered throughout the year, and necessarily subject to an open waiting list for access to services in the months of peak demand (November and December, January and February), once filled they are able to offer up to 5 more people urgent access to all or part of the service, after assessing their situation as being of priority. The summer months are busy too, but notably less so than the winter. Those who access the complete services have the option of having a locker to store their personal belongings. However, there are also people who come daily to the centre for development and fulfilment of personal projects, as well as the daily requests from people in need for informal services also provided by CAIPSHO. Examples of these services include: general advice and guidance with appropriate referrals if needed, receipt of mail or personal documentation, registration procedures, and copies of curricular development, food aid, clothing, shower or laundry facilities. This raises the average amount of people provided for in the day care centre to between 40 & 45 on average. They are only able to carry out their work with resources provided through the generosity of donors, far beyond financial contributions, including donations of clothes, shoes, toiletries, household goods, and food from individuals and corporations or the Food Bank and other contributors. The lunch served at the centre, is faithfully donated by almost thirty benevolent hotels and restaurants in the area, who each take on at least one week throughout the year. Some of these companies even collaborate up to 5 weeks a year. Their collaboration includes the donation of 30 set meals (1st and 2nd dish, fruit, bread). These extraordinary companies include: Hotel Gran Canaria Princess Seaside Hotel Sandy Beach Hotel Barceló Margaritas IFA Buenaventura Hotel IFA Beach Hotel IFA Catarina Hotel IFA Dunamar Hotel IFA Faro Hotel IFA Continental Hotel IFA Interclub Atlantic Hotel Hotel Caserío Aparthotel Playa del Inglés Grand Hotel Residencia Hotel Sheraton Salobre Golf Hotel Gloria Palace San Agustín Hotel Neptuno Hotel Maspalomas Princess Hotel Orquídea Hotel H10 Playa Meloneras Palace Hotel Meliá Tamarindos Hotel Eugenia Victoria Hotel Parque Tropical Hotel Green Field Restaurante Rimini Restaurante El Carretón Buffet Las Camelias