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Philosophy and location

The Mempo Giardinelli Foundation is a non-profit Non Governmental Organization whose essential mission is to promote and foster reading. It is an educational institution that carries out activities and programs through a Study Center while trying to fulfill the present and future Culture demand in Chaco and all the Northeast region of Argentina. In addition, it is a common cause institution which supports reading-related social programs.

The Foundation created, and currently organizes and sponsors only the following institutions and programs with permanent office in the building located on 355 José María Paz Street in the City of Resistencia.
— Center of Advanced Literary and Social Studies (CAELyS-Chaco)
— International Forum to Foster Books and Reading (FIFLL)
— The Grandmothers Storytelling Program
— The Assistance Program for Children’s Dining Halls
— The Foundation’s Library and Newspapers Archives
— The Juan Filloy Institute of Literary and Social Research (IILS-JF)
— The Postgraduate Seminar: Argentine Literature, Criticism and Creation.
— Literary Autumn and the Autumn of Thinking
— The Children’s Literary Spring

Any other institution or program that has not been mentioned above is absolutely unauthorized. Furthermore, the Foundation is not liable for any procedures taken and/or developed by people who are not expressly authorized.

Where we are
The Northeast region of Argentina is composed of the Provinces of Formosa, Misiones, Corrientes and Chaco. Chaco is where we work, a place where 2.7% of the total population of the country (978,956 inhabitants) is scattered over 99,633 square kilometers of very fertile lands which have been devastated by floods, unsustainable environmental policies, poverty and unemployment.

According to the information provided by several consulting agencies and official reports, almost 50% of the population of Chaco can be classified as BNU, i.e. people with their Basic Needs Unsatisfied. This sad reality places Chaco among the poorest provinces in Argentina together with Formosa and Corrientes, its two neighbors.

The Foundation specifically carries out its work in the area called El Gran Resistencia (Resistencia Suburbs), i.e. the urban conglomerate of the province formed by the Municipalities of Resistencia, Barranqueras, Puerto Vilelas and Fontana.

Due to the lack of planning, about 400,000 people have concentrated there. They live in the area that forms the flood bed of one of the main rivers in South America, Paraná River, in the area demarcated by the watershed of the rivers Negro (to the North), Arazá (to the South) and Riacho Barranqueras (to the East). Most of the area is low and flood prone, it has mainly recent alluvial soils, which are young and hydromorphic. Communications are the only privilege of this location. Resistencia is a nodal center where land, fluvial and air routes converge so the place is well connected to the region, the country and the world. In addition, it is almost an unavoidable path for all the exchange carried out among the MERCOSUR nations.

Foundation Funding
Since we are a non profit Non Gobernmental Organization, all our activities, projects and programs are funded by our own financing, and the work of many volunteers.
From its beginnings, after a small personal contribution, the Foundation has been carrying out all its activities relying directly and exclusively on those funds, which are raised through the services we provide, seminar and course enrollment fees, tickets sold for several activities, annual subscriptions, and also, on occasion, donations made by our friends worldwide.

These contributions, conscientiously managed by the Foundation, are completed, only on occasion, with public and private entity funds. That is the case with one of the most important undertakings we embark on annually: the International Forum to Foster Reading and Books, which is carried out with the help of specific sponsorship and patronage of both public and private entities.

You can help us improve our Programs. Your monetary contribution, no matter the amount, can help us do a lot. So, if you are willing to help us, PLEASE read the information below.

DONATIONS - Ways to Help
Any individual or legal entity, public or private, as well as organizations, foundations, businesses NGOs and any other type of legal entity can contribute for the activities carried out by the Foundation by donating money following these procedures:

a) In Argentina by writing out a check in PESOS.
Write out a check to: Fundación Mempo Giardinelli or deposit the amount of money at the Banco Credicoop, Current Account number: 375-10869-1.

b) In the United States by writing out a check in DOLLARS.
Write out the check to Fundación Mempo Giardinelli, and mail it to the following address:
Dr. Fernando Operé c/o FMG
25 University Circle
Charlottesville, VA 22903

c) In Europe by writing out a check in EUROS.
Make the deposit or money transfer to: Fundación Mempo Giardinelli España at the:
BANCO BILBAO VIZCAYA ARGENTARIA - BBVA
Oficina 1041 - c/Muntaner 277
08021-BARCELONA.
Cuenta Corriente: 029-150097-5
IBAN: ES67 0182 1045 2002 9150 0975
BIC / SWIFT CODE: BBVAESMMXXX

d) Credit card (NOT AVAILABLE YET).

IMPORTANT: In every case, please let us know the exact amount deposited via email to: fmg2005@fundamgiardinelli.org.ar so that we can issue the corresponding Official Receipt. PLEASE DO NOT MAKE ANONYMOUS CONTRIBUTIONS.

First and Last Name:
Address:
State or Province:
Country:
Telephone Number:
Email Address:
Profession/Occupation:
CUIT (in Argentina):
Where, when and how much you donated (Country, Bank):

Please state whether the donation should be used for the Foundation’s general activities or for a particular program. If not specified, the amount donated will be used for the Foundation’s general activities. THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

Assistance Program for Children’s Dining Halls
What is and why do we support this Program?
The Assistance Program for Children’s Dining Halls is the Foundation’s response to the severe crisis of dramatic proportions that the Argentine Republic has been going through since the end of the year 2001. This crisis has left thousands of unemployed heads of households whose families live in poverty, hunger, sickness and exclusion.

That is the reason why our Foundation, as well as other institutions in several Argentine provinces, has had to shift away from our main mission and activities.
As it is publicly known, the Mempo Giardinelli Foundation has been conducting all kinds of cultural and educational activities such as Teachers’ Training Courses, the Grandmothers Telling Tales Program, Seminars and Lectures, among others. This is also our tenth year conducting the International Forum to Foster Books and Reading, which is today —to many people’s opinion— the most important annual educational event in Argentina.

The present crisis, though, has forced us to pay closer attention to more urgent needs. We are forced to do this, because we live in a province called Chaco —which, according to all statistics, is the hardest hit of all the Argentine provinces; the one with the greatest indigenous population, and the one whose poverty levels are estimated to affect more than 50% of the population. We are forced to do this because Culture and Education are not abstract concepts that can turn their back on people suffering from hunger.

Since we are a Non Profit NGO dedicated to education and to promoting reading, we now find ourselves compelled to add new functions to our original mission. We are compelled because there cannot be any kind of education, there cannot be any future readers if children are not provided with the basic nutrients, vitamins and minerals that they need to grow healthily.

That is the reason why we began assisting several children’s dining halls in the poorest neighboring suburbs of Resistencia, the capital of Chaco province, around the middle of the year 2002. These dining halls provide food to undernourished children, who have been either abandoned, or whose families are unable to feed.

As many others Argentinean NGO’s, we try to provide heterodox answers to the crisis, so we were obliged to diversify our activities to deal with great urgencies: provide food and reading. In the face of the apparent contradiction we deal with "both things".

Since the crisis, we have not only gone on working but we have also kept growing thanks to the proved efficiency of our Assistance Program for Children's Dining Halls that today is helping hundreds of boys and girls form Chaco as well as the provinces of Corrientes and Misiones.

We were obviously accompanied by many volunteers of the Foundation’s Story-Tellers Grandmothers Program who were convinced that reading can only be fostered with reading (affectionate, loving). Since the beginning of the Assistance Program for Children’s Dining Halls they have been visiting the children at the scooping halls and diners. They have provided kids with what may be their only opportunity to become acquainted with the best children’s literature.

This program officially started on July 9th, 2002. Since then, the Foundation has handed over more than five tons of foods to the following dining and milk scooping halls for children in need:
• Maná Children’s Scooping Hall, in Villa Río Negro. Resistencia.
• Casa del Sol "María Elena Walsh", in Barrio Juan Domingo Perón Neighborhood. Resistencia.
• Santa Clara de Asís Dining Hall, in La Isla Neighborhood, Villa Río Negro. Resistencia.
• Santa Ana Dining Hall, in Santa Ana Neighborhood, Resistencia (supported by Cáritas Argentina).
• San José Obrero Dining Hall, in Provincias Unidas Neighborhood, Resistencia. (supported by Cáritas Argentina).
• Espíritu Santo Dining Hall, in Barrio Santa Ana, Resistencia (supported by Cáritas Argentina).
• Madre Teresa de Calcuta Dining Hall, in Paso de la Patria, Province of Corrientes.
• School N°845 Paraje Le Bretón, 60 kilometers away from Taco Pozo and in Chaco’s Impenetrable.
• The Satellite Room of School N°346, Paraje San Isidro. Posadas, Province of Misiones.
• Piacenza Solidaria Milk Scooping Hall. Villa Palermo II Neighborhood. Resistencia.
At the beginning of 2009, four dining halls receive our permanent voluntary help. A total of 300 to 600 children benefits from this assistance.

Do We Really Know Who We Are Assisting?
Yes, the people who work as volunteers in the halls not only provide the milk or prepare the daily meals, they also verify addresses, make sure they know the families, and call the roll daily in order to control every child’s history. Because of this, we have lists with the children’s names, addresses and I.D. numbers. We also know their grade levels, and, in many cases, unfortunately, their illiteracy level, real or functional.

On the other hand, in many cases and in coordination with the primary health assistance provided by the state or thanks to the help of doctors and nutritionists, we, the volunteers, know the children that need twice as much milk as the others due to some level on undernourishment.

Has the Foundation Been Helping in Any Other Ways?
Yes. Depending on the donations we receive, we are able to supply:
• School Materials. Periodic deliveries of hundred of exercise books, pencils, pens and alike are made for the children we have registered. This is an activity we carry out every year at the beginning of the school year. To that effect, we rely on several deliveries by people who support our activities from Italy, Germany and USA. In addition it is necessary to help with our own resources to be able to perform this task.
• Stoves to heat the small halls where the children gather in shifts to receive food. And fans for the extreme Summer temperatures.
• On occasion, we supply building materials and labour for the ceiling waterproofing of one of the rooms.
• Sometimes, we buy building materials to finish those works already started by other institutions, as it was the case with the Santa Clara de Asís Dining Hall in 2004.
• Tennis shoes. Periodic deliveries of hundreds of pairs are made for the children we have registered.
• Toys. Those volunteers from the Grandmothers Telling Tales Prog ram of the Foundation collect toys which are delivered every year for the Children´s Day (August). In addition, since Christmas 2004 we have been giving toys to all of the children of the Program in Resistencia, and we hope that we will be able to extend it to every other kid in the near future.
• Books. We are mounting modest book libraries for children in all the rooms that we attended.

Piacenza Solidaria
Within the Assistance Program for Children’s Dining Halls, the Milk Scooping Hall Piacenza Solidaria plays a model role in this type of assistance.
Founded in 2004, this place represents the joint efforts of many united volunteers under the general coordination of the Foundation.

Piacenza Solidaria is a scooping hall equipped and provided by the Mempo Giardinelli Foundation. It is located in Villa Palermo II Neighborhood, in the outskirts of the City of Resistencia. The Foundation called the hall Piacenza Solidaria to honor and thank the community of the Italian city, where a group of volunteers started to provide systematic help to the Foundation and its integral work in 2003.


To start up the hall, the Foundation signed an agreement with Resistencia’s Town Council, through their Mayor, Eng. Aída Ayala. Through this agreement, the Town Council opened the facilities while our Foundation supplied the initial equipment and daily foods provisions.

With the invaluable help of those funds from Piacenza, we could open this new milk scooping hall originally created to assist 80 children and which is currently attended by 260 kids daily.…

The Assistance Program for Children’s Dining Halls supplied the initial equipment to this hall. It included 4 tables and benches for shifts of 80 kids, cup sets, aluminum reinforced saucepans, bread baskets, jars, plastic pitchers, wooden spoons, an array of utensils, kitchen towels, cleaning items and gas for the cookers.

How you can help us
Every person, individuals or public or private legal entities, as well as organism, major foundations, companies and any kind of transparent entity can contribute to our Assistance Program for Children’s Dining Halls with voluntary donations of money or goods.

In fact, every contribution given to the Foundation, every donation received is always and in every case allocated in a proportionally important way to support this Program.

To this end, we want to highlight –for all those people are visiting this site and reading these lines- that the Mempo Giardinelli Foundation is a non-profit NGO dully registered in the Inspection Board of Justice and AFIP (Federal Administration of Public Income). This means that every donation is dully recorded and that the institution’s accounting is transparent. Our Annual Reports and Balance Sheets are submitted annually on the corresponding date and following the corresponding requisites and our receipts are official.

In addition, it is important to stress the fact that, as we are a group of volunteers, the Foundation’s administration and most of the activities are free and do not represent additional charges. As a consequence, practically all the contributions we receive go to the planned and stated purposes and are not spent on salaries or traveling expenses.

Regarding donations, we practically need everything.

Translation: Cecilia Poratti.