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ARGENTINA: Children and youth receive school support, food aid

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Salesian oratory in Cipolletti launches project to provide school support and food assistance to poor children

(MissionNewswire) The Salesian oratory in Cipolletti, a city in the Patagonian province of Río Negro, Argentina, has launched the "It's a thing of the heart" project to provide school support and food assistance to children. Many children in the neighboring communities are poor and their families need assistance providing proper nutrition, along with the supplies and support students need to excel in school.

Salesian programs across Argentina are primarily focused on education. Salesian primary and secondary education prepares youth for technical, vocational or university studies. Other programs help meet the basic needs of poor youth and their families by providing shelter, proper nutrition and medical care, as well as helping youth to engage in their education and have hope for the future.

"In Salesian programs in Argentina and around the globe, projects have been launched to help poor children and their families with nutritional and education support, especially in the face of the global COVID-19 pandemic," said Father Gus Baek, director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco. "Due to lockdowns and business closures, more families have slipped further into poverty and need community support. Salesians are doing everything they can to address this growing need."

The Salesian Missions Office in Buenos Aires, known as For the Youth-Don Bosco, launched a campaign in September to raise funds to help poor youth and their families impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The campaign, which ran from Sept. 13-30, aimed to raise funding to provide food assistance to more than 150,000 families and help support educational initiatives in the region.

The Salesian Missions Office in Argentina supports Salesian projects across the country. The office also publicizes Salesian initiatives and helps to finance many of them with the support of benefactors, companies and other organizations. Argentina is among the five countries most affected by COVID-19 in Latin America.

More than a quarter of the people in Argentina live in conditions of poverty with no formal employment and poor-quality education, according to the World Bank. The country's high school dropout rate is close to 37 percent and youth account for a third of those unemployed. Almost 12 percent of children ages 5-17 are working instead of being in school and 20 percent need government assistance. Many face malnutrition, a lack of clean water and sewage, and inadequate housing.

Sources:

ANS Photo (usage permissions and guidelines must be requested from ANS)

ANS -- Argentina -- Oratories of the Salesian house in Cipolletti give school support and food assistance

Salesian Missions -- Argentina

World Bank -- Argentina