We are FCC Nº23

Marina Pérez Martínez Director of Melior Foundation I N T E R V I E W What is the reality of the people that the Foundation attends to? The families that we attend in Melior Foundation are families at risk of so- cial exclusion that are referred throu - gh the Social Services of all the dis - tricts of Madrid (Vallecas, Villaverde, Usera, Carabanchel, etc.). Last year we attended 365 families, a total of 1,080 students from the first year of kindergarten to the second year of baccalaureate. How important is the collabora- tion of citizens and companies, and what impact do campaigns like the one launched at FCC have? Thanks to donations from individuals and companies, we were able to ob - tain many of the textbooks that will be lent to these students. Donations also provide us with numerous rea - ding books that we sell in our solidarity bookshops, and with the money raised we can have the economic resources to buy new textbooks. For example, thanks to the collection of textbooks and materials at FCC we Melior Books Project will be able to help around 30 families by lending them textbooks and school materials such as backpacks and other school supplies that they need during the school year. What are the Foundation’s next challenges or projects? To provide families who request it with extracurricular resources aimed at improving their children’s learning pro - cesses, inclusion and school success. The project is aimed at families and children in situations of difficulty and social risk, in accordance with the Social Services referral report that is a requirement for access to the programme. The aim of the program - me is to compensate for educational inequalities through tools such as school support, socio-emotional edu - cation and the promotion of the arts among the beneficiaries of the pro - gramme. We have set ourselves the objective for the first year of activity of Escuela Melior to attend to 350 children throu - gh the different programmes of the project. The foundation’s main source of income is Melior Books, a circular economy project to sell used books donated by individuals, libraries and companies. “We give these unused books a new life of solidarity by se - lling them in our physical bookshops (Avda. Islas Filipinas 4, Madrid) and online.” “In addition, we receive funds from private donors, non-profit organisa - tions (such as the La Caixa Banking Foundation) and, sporadically, pu - blic aid”. LIBROSMELIOR.ORG W E L L N E S S W E L L N E S S 45