Some cut onions, others prepare hamburgers and there are those who set the table. The kitchen of Terrasseta, a soup kitchen in Gràcia, is preparing for serve 150 menus one more day to people with problems alcoholism. However, for months it has been doing so with the uncertainty of not knowing what will happen after October 31, when it will stop receiving funding from the Barcelona City Council.
Dr. María Luisa Marin, president of the La Rauxa Association and promoter of the dining room, tells 20minutes.es that the council has made this decision “for no reason”, something that municipal sources deny to this newspaper. “The current dining room services have been redesigned with a new tender,” they say from the City Council, adding that this decision has been made to improve the attention provided to citizens. “It is aimed at dignifying people’s attention in appropriate spaces and a professional care aimed at social inclusion“, they explain of the new model.
The problem arises from a “special contract” that was granted to the entity in 2000, when as a result of a conflict with a public tender they were offered a agreement extendable every four years. The last one had to be expanded this October, but to the surprise of Terrasseta, this has not been the case. “I had a meeting with representatives of the City Council for the extension and that was when they told us that we had to submit to a competition,” explains Marin, who complains that That appointment was on April 10 and the contest closed on the 17th. “We didn’t have time to prepare the dossier they required,” the doctor justifies.
In the 24 years that the Gràcia dining room has been in operation (before there was another in Clot), They have not participated in any contest and six have been held. “It wasn’t necessary,” he explains. He adds that the council justifies the termination of the contract because “European regulations have modified public contracts for soup kitchens”, something that insists that it does not affect them because Catalan law protects their contract and, therefore, it is valid ” and it does not contradict the European one”.
The City Council defends that all its actions regarding the new tender were communicated to Rauxa “in a timely manner”and that the entity decided not to participate in the tender, despite knowing that a new tender was underway.
They add that the Terrasseta dining room It is a public service of Barcelona and as such, it must be managed through a competition “that clearly establishes what the professional profiles must be to ensure the provision of the service.” Furthermore, they indicate that it is a resource that requires professional prescription from Social Services, since it is aimed at users of these services.
“A small dining room”
The peculiarity of this space is that the majority of those who work in the premises, located on Fraternitat street, are rehabilitated alcoholics (AARR)although there are also social workers. The doctor herself is also in charge of managing and supervising the dining room, but highlights the work of those who went through the same thing, those who were also in line to dine there. “They explain their stories to them, they talk to them… seeing people who are getting ahead, who have been rehabilitated for years and who are working is important,” he says, stating that sometimes it is the workers themselves who are They convince them to ask for help.
The director of the association explains that after the notification from the City Council His intention is to continue with the dining room, seeking financing elsewhere. Currently, they already have external aid, such as the Food Bank, Mercadona either consumptionamong others. “They give us a lot of food,” he says.
Marin insists that the function of the dining room is essential, both for the workers, who would be left without a job if it were to close, something he considers “stupid,” and for those who come. “They are fighting to overcome an illness”he remembers, while reiterating that they are not going against anyone.
Support from political entities and parties
In an open Change.org to recover municipal financing, the association highlights the work they have been doing for more than two decadesoffering “quality” dinners, an opportunity for AARR job reintegration after having undergone rehabilitation treatment and motivating more affected people to ask for help. And they regret that “to justify an unfair and arbitrary decision, Barcelona City Council hides behind explanations that suggest poor preparation or execution in the soup kitchen, something totally opposite to reality.”
La Terrasseta also has the support from more than a dozen entitiessome such as the Catalan Solidarity Center, the Catalan Federation of Drug Addictions and Other Addictions and the Catalan Federation of Social Volunteering (FCVS), which have sent letters to the municipal government advocating for the work of the association.
In addition, both Junts and Barcelona En Comú This Tuesday they asked the City Council for the continuity of the project in the Commission of Social Rights, Culture and Sports, guarantee the continuity of the dining room. “It is a unique project, but sometimes this singularity collides with certain legal regulations and “The challenge is to find this balance between two realities that are equally important,” said Junts councilor Neus Munté. For her part, Carolina Recio (Bcomú), assured that Terrasseta does “indescribable and irreplaceable work in our neighborhoods” and that for many people “it is an urgent, unique resource.”
In response to these requests, the council undertook to study support for people linked to the labor reintegration project. “It is something that worries us,” said Social Action Commissioner Sonia Fuentes, adding that it is something they will talk about with the entity. However, he insisted that they differentiate between the provision of the dining room service and the continuity of the integration project or the treatment of people with addiction problems.
Marin, on the other hand, denounces that he has been asking for a meeting with Maria Eugenia Gaythe second deputy mayor in the area of Social Rights, Culture, Education and Life Cycles, and with the mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, without getting any kind of response.
