The 'hunger queues' are growing in Madrid: "With the 300 euros from ERTE we cannot eat"

• Direct: Last minute of the coronavirus health crisis

When we talk about this second (or third) wave of the Covid in which we live, the political sound often silences the precariousness in which society is sinking.

The so-called "

in the face of ERTEs, EREs, the lack of aid and the end of the savings of families that have been without income during these eight months.

Faced with this situation, food banks, social centers and associations turn to give basic food to these people who do nothing more than

Only the Platform of Workers in Paro de San Blas-Canillejas serves 400 families;

40 are the families cared for by the Usera Pantry "many of us refer them to the Red Cross or Cáritas Madrid because we cannot attend them," explains the association's coordinator;

the parish priest of the

who speaks of an "enormous number of people" and the workers of the two food banks that the Tetuán neighborhood parish has clarify:

"We receive support from the Summa 112, the firefighters and the Municipal Police who help us distribute to those families that we do not reach," explains Conrado Giménez, president and founder of Fundación Madrina.

At first they only delivered food once a month, then once a week,

Their food bank is to one side of the church, and the queues go around the building.

There women like Claudia, Samantha, María Gracia, Eva or Tania come with their girls to collect food.

In their bags and cars there is a bit of everything: pasta, rice, lentils, some vegetables, wipes, diapers ... "Fortunately, the Madrina Foundation has good funds and we also receive food from the Food Bank," explains Giménez, "Although now both the Bank and the pantries are empty."

Only foundations like Madrina

THE PROFILE HAS CHANGED

Tania and Eva with their girls and other mothers after collecting the food from Fundación MadrinaÁngel Navarrete

In the registries there are 500 families that go to this parish, although the Madrina Foundation

before the confinement there were 600. "The vast majority are single mothers who have been abandoned by their fathers during this confinement."

The truth is that the profile of the people who make up the queues to collect food has changed compared to March: "Before those who already lived from day to day came, now those who

Work is what the people who were queuing up to receive food and the necessary items to survive all Friday morning are asking.

"I live with my daughter in a house

Eva worked in the hospitality industry, although "I have really worked in everything: cleaning, as a cashier, taking care of the elderly."

Beside him a 10-month-old whirlwind twists in on itself, drawing his attention.

"Since he was born I saw it necessary to ask for help because I could not assure him the food. Now I have no work and I cannot pay anything, the landlord pays me for water and electricity, and I do not know how long he will endure this situation."

Tania lives with her mother and four-year-old daughter in the former's house.

He was also engaged in the hotel business, sporadically, and taking care of the elderly.

But the bars no longer hire her and the lady who attended has spent the pandemic in a residence.

"We only have the ERTE of my mother, who was a waitress.

And now, in addition, the masks to go to school.

"That's another, it's impossible for me to pay for everything," he murmurs.

A little further away is David with his red and white mask.

He belongs to the world of construction and goes to this food bank to give his children something to eat.

Since March he and his wife are unemployed and the only money that comes in does not even pay the rent.

for now the landlord accepts our situation. Although I do not know how long, I have not paid since June."

Cloe at seven months is in charge of entertaining her with her complaints and crying.

- He may be hungry already, it's almost one thirty.

- Well yes, but we are leaving, we have been here since ten in the morning.

Claudia is her mother, we don't know anything about the "pseudo-father", she had her at the beginning of confinement and after being fired from her position as a stewardess.

"They didn't renew my contract because I was pregnant."

During the months of confinement she lived off the charity of the neighbors, "now I come every week from San Sebastián de los Reyes so they can give me some food to feed her."

Within the queues that surround the church, this situation is compounded by the difficulty of obtaining registration.

This is the case of Karin, who

Without them I cannot ask for aid or work and they will evict me."

The pantry of the food bank of the group of Paraguayans from the parish of Santa María Micaela y San Enrique, in the Teuán neighborhood.ÁNGEL NAVARRETE

"Here you find stories of all kinds," reports Conrado Giménez.

"The aid does not arrive, neither does the money and the measures that politicians take are not noticed here."

The "hunger queues", which appear sporadically in the media, do not stop growing: "

"IT IS AMAZING THE SOLIDARITY THERE IS"

Given this, in the Madrina Foundation as in the other food bank of the Church of Santa María Micaela and San Enrique, although they ask that they be registered and documentation with which they justify the need to receive help, many times they welcome those people who are waiting the standard.

"They are people who need help, how not to do it", indicates Paola Desiree.

The food bank that he coordinates in the parish is born from an association of Paraguayans that began by helping economically those most in need and ended in June by setting up tables and delivering food to 375 families every Friday.

says.

This small association receives daily vegetables from MercaMadrid and donations of non-perishable products and baby food.

"At first the Food Bank told us that they couldn't give us any food because there wasn't any, then they called us. It was a miracle."

They keep everything in a small room with shelves with packages of pasta, oil, baby food, baby food and smoothies.

At the end of the month, this pantry is low.

"We received a new remittance at the beginning of the month. It is not a large quantity but it helps us to help families."

At first they did not believe that so many would attend, but now with donations and the support of MercaMadrid they are able to supply several hundred families, many of them with children.

Vegetables to prepare nutritious broths for the children fill the cars and bags of Nancy, who lives with her son and grandchildren at home;

Marjorie, about to give birth to her third child;

or to Kyale who at 25 stands in line to bring his pregnant cousin and mother of another daughter something to eat.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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