Initiatives taken by Jesuits in the EUM

"Proximity to the homeless". This is what Pope Francis reminded us on April 2 while praying for the most vulnerable. Therefore in a few days on April 15, through the combined collaboration of the Church of Naples and the Society of Jesus, the reception project for 50 homeless people was inaugurated. "This is a significant initiative which Card. Sepe desired to set up" Fr. Gianfranco Matarazzo, EUM provincial highlighted "with which we as Jesuits have been able to collaborate by making available our building , together with other charisms at the service of the poor". The rooms have been furnished with all that is necessary to welcome guests with dignity, who have also been provided with clothing, personal wear and bedroom linen. Besides accommodation, food, health care and entertainment have also been provided. The management of this house has been entrusted to a specialized cooperative and to the religious. The Cangiani complex, owned by the Euro-Mediterranean Province of the Society of Jesus, is being sold. However, the Province has granted a loan which will provide for the immediate needs of the Church of Naples until the end of June.

The listening centre has been strengthened in the nearby Jesuit community of Scampia. The distribution of the number of food and medicine packs to poor families has increased from 30 to almost 50, while new requests for help continue to come in. The regular collaborators, many of whom are retired, have been joined by other younger ones, to avoid exposing the older ones to the risk of infection. The distribution that was normally done in a single day, now takes place over several days, to avoid gatherings.

During the current time of emergency, Caritas, in addition to Scampia has also included in its eighth deanery other popular neighborhoods in the northern area of Naples to guarantee help to all.

Among the most vulnerable people at this time are the gypsies who live in camps adjacent to the community. Three weeks ago, a task force was rapidly set up with the aim of organizing emergency food distribution to serve all 80 families in the camp, a total of about 470 people. Thanks to the generosity of institutions and individuals, the first food distribution service took place. In the meantime a new crowdfunding platform has been activated entitled (BAM, Mutual Support Brigade) which includes the Jesuits, the Providence nuns and the Lasallians operating in Scampia, associations that help the gypies and the poor in the neighborhood and a group of volunteers. In this way the distribution of necessities continues and is now guaranteed also to the second Rom camp of Secondigliano and to a hundred of Neapolitan families in need.

A legal and psychological support telephone line has been added to the food distribution service, and a "free phone number" for other emergencies.

Various works in other cities are also setting up reception services.  In Genoa at the San Marcellino work, the reception service was changed in order to provide accommodation in single rooms in pensions and transforming the spaces available to offer others a safe overnight stay and a simple meal. In Catania, at the parish of the Miraculous Crucifix, the reception service has been set up in the Erwin area, which between January and May 2019 welcomed 12 homeless people.