The Pope’s laundry has arrived at the tent city of San Ferdinando (Reggio Calabria). The service, offered free of charge to the poorest people, in particular those without a fixed abode, allows them to wash and dry their clothes and also take care of their personal hygiene thanks to the showers installed in the rooms. The initiative adds to the six already operating in Rome, Genoa, Turin (two), Naples and Catania and strengthens the collaboration between Procter & Gamble and the Apostolic Charity. Collaboration began in 2015 when, at the behest of the Pope, a barber shop for the poor was opened under the colonnade of St. Peter’s Square. The laundry and shower service in San Ferdinando will be managed by the diocesan Caritas of Oppido Mamertina. «This initiative, which is repeated over time», explained Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, Apostolic Almoner, when inaugurating the structure, «is a source of joy for me because this is a further possibility of being close to wounded humanity, a way to demonstrate the presence and closeness of God to the least.”
For his part, Riccardo Calvi, communication director of Procter & Gamble Italia, reiterated that the laundries are a special project that «offers us the opportunity to contribute in a concrete way to improving the living conditions of hundreds of people in difficulty, through a simple gesture, but far from obvious: giving everyone the opportunity to take care of their personal and clothing hygiene. Inaugurating a new laundry service is therefore always a source of enthusiasm and pride for us, and it is even more so here in San Ferdinando, in such a difficult place as the Tent City.”
The diocesan Caritas of Oppido Mamertina-Palmi will also take care of the Presidio help desk, a reception space in which the presence of specialized operators will ensure that workers employed in the agricultural sector and in clear conditions of need have a place of listening, orientation and protection with respect to their legal, health and working situation.
