The event, organised by the Vice-Rectorate for the University Community, unfolded amid a festive atmosphere on both the Barcelona and Sant Cugat campuses, where students, professors and administration and service staff took part in the six missions proposed for this year.
The two campuses played host to the “Breakfast for Everyone”, “Sweet Wishes” and “Bingo” missions. The first involved preparing breakfast or a mid-morning snack for the homeless, in cooperation with the Assís Shelter and La Merienda, an initiative of the association Sud Integració.
With “Sweet Wishes”, the volunteers prepared a sweet gift for young mothers in disadvantaged situations. The present, a bouquet made from gummy sweets, will be given to the women from the Maternity and Casa Guadalupe projects on International Women’s Day. And as part of the “Bingo” mission, the participants played bingo with elderly people from the Badia del Vallès Day Centre, the Ergos Care Home and the l’Onada-Parc Guinardó Care Home, who visited both campuses.
This year also saw the inclusion of two new missions: “Colourful”, on the Sant Cugat Campus, and “Braille”, on the Barcelona Campus. With the former, the mission was completed in cooperation with the ArtistLove Association. Artist Ferran Tort, a colourist painter who sees only in black and white, designed 35 personalised pillows for the beds of children in disadvantaged situations. The challenge involved decorating them in accordance with artist’s instructions.
With the “Braille” mission, participants were given the opportunity to walk in the shoes of people with a visual impairment and understand the difficulty inherent in entering the job market. The mission was carried out with the help of the Association for Visual Disabilities of Catalonia and the Sifu Group Foundation.
The day’s activities came to an end with the mission “Golden Goal”, in which volunteers played football with children from Street Soccer and Braval, associations which work to promote social integration.
The event proved highly successful, and all missions were completed: 500 gummy sweet bouquets, over 250 breakfast packs and three games of bingo. Participants included students from all faculties, as well as teaching staff and administration and service staff. Over the course of the morning, 26 students livened up the missions with musical performances. The event also received support from Disgo, SA, which supplied the sweets for the mission "Sweet Wishes”; Eurest, which provided the food for the breakfasts, and Lindt, which donated the boxes of chocolates for the mission “Bingo”. The cafeteria managers on both campuses graciously provided the venues, materials and services to make the mission “Breakfast for Everyone” possible.
The missions will conclude with a series of charitable getaways on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, during which the pillows, sweet wishes, breakfasts and snacks will be given away.
