In the face of economic crisis, NGO helps more than 700 families in Fazenda Rio Grande
By: Laís Da Rosa
Tags: Ngo, Crisis, Like, Economics

In the face of economic crisis, NGO helps more than 700 families in Fazenda Rio Grande Laís da Rosa Jun 17·7 min read

The Vale da Benção Beneficent Association project works against hunger and poverty

Foto: Divulgação ONG

For Laís da Rosa e Felipe da Fonte

A survey released by the Institute for the Development of Social Investment (IDIS) revealed that in 2018, 70% of Brazilians have already made some cash donations to social causes. The data showed that, despite the practice of donation not having advanced, about 42% of Brazilians donate because they care about the causes and 40% donate to help those who need it most.

As much as the donation culture in Brazil has not advanced in recent years, we must value the institutions that receive donations to distribute food, products and clothing to people in social vulnerability.

Many people don’t know how a donation can make a difference, whether it’s a package of beans, a package of wheat, a piece of clothing, or any kind of product, but it makes a difference for those who really need it.

Economist Angela Welters says that, in general, people look for institutions or NGOs when they don’t know who to donate to; they look for reputable entities that, in fact, make the help reach those who need it. She says that the importance of NGOs is precisely to serve as a bridge between individuals who want to donate and individuals who need help.

During this period of pandemic that we are facing, many NGOs and charities have stopped receiving donations and often ended their activities. But others are still developing their projects and collecting food for distribution in the community.

Welters says that Brazil was already in a very severe economic crisis before the pandemic, with high unemployment, informality and poverty growing month by month. “There was already a scenario that was not favorable for the economy this year. What the pandemic produced was a global and more intense crisis phenomenon, which we are still speculating in terms of scope. However, all experts say that we cannot imagine solutions in the short term, especially in Brazil, where the situation is more complex and will depend on the unfolding of the political crisis”, he says.

For Welters, the pandemic should generate an even bigger recession, which should impact the third sector as well. She says that the prospects are not good, as in addition to the pandemic, we have great political instability that is driving investors away from the country. “We can imagine a significant reduction in family income, an increase in unemployment and an increase in family indebtedness. Increased poverty and possible collapse of small and medium enterprises. The instability of the economy, reflected in the income of individuals and companies, should have a negative impact on the scenario of private financing of activities such as this one”, he says.

She reiterates that as poverty and the number of families in situations of social vulnerability must increase, the activities of NGOs are gaining importance at this time, but the problem is financing.

Without depending on the government, the Beneficent Association Vale da Bênção, founded by pastor Zita Ribeiro Ramos and Sebastião Ramos, offers 12 projects for children, young people, adults and the elderly. Among them are: digital inclusion project, project against hunger and poverty, anti-drugs, sewing, music classes, web design, crafts, futsal, dance and theater, Spanish classes and also receive donations for pregnant women.

With all these projects, the Vale da Bênção Beneficent Association achieved prominence in the community, which is located in Fazenda Rio Grande. Currently, the NGO is serving more than 700 families in just one project, “Projeto Pão Nosso”, which fights hunger and poverty. In addition to serving 162 people in other projects.

Anderson, son of the association’s founders, is also responsible for administering and taking care of the financial part of the institution, says that Associação Vale da Bênção has become a reference for the local population. “We believe that association is essential today. It is a reference to being a place where people already remember the name and identify it as a place where there is food. It is a place where hunger can be satiated, where thirst will be satisfied, the family will be accompanied, and so on. It is a place of blessing and peace. It’s a haven for those in need.”

He also says that before the pandemic they needed computers for the computer lab, because there are only two computers — which are not in good condition — for four students to learn. And at the moment they are in need of sewing machines, the simplest, for the production of masks. “Pastor Zita, the founder of the NGO, teaches sewing, and now the students are learning to produce masks to earn an income. Some of them are already selling and getting an income to support themselves. They are managing to buy their daily bread,” says Anderson.

The Vale da Benção Association receives all kinds of donations, hygiene products, both for cleaning and personal care, all kinds of food, furniture, electronic equipment, construction material, baby trousseau items, clothing for all ages, among other products.

Joraci Boza has been making donations to the NGO for two years. She reports that she already knows their work and that’s why she insists on making donations of fruit and vegetables. “I don’t do more than the obligation, as I have the conditions and intend to continue making donations”, he says.

The founder of the institution Zita Ribeiro Ramos says that in the midst of the pandemic, they are providing people with food. “On Wednesdays, we supply the people, because with this pandemic we make food and deliver it ready for 200 people, and every day the number of people is increasing more”, he says. She is also offering free sewing classes for people to be able to sell and earn their income.

The NGO is located at Rua Cabo Verde, 512 — Jd Santarém — Bairro Nações I — Fazenda Rio Grande-PR. The contact telephone number is (41) 99118–1762.

How it all began

Zita Ribeiro Ramos says that the main reason she created Associação Vale da Benção was because of a little girl she adopted, because, at the time, her mother had rejected her. “If one day I can help a mother, a family, I will help, and not do what other people somehow did to me”, he says.

It was at church that she realized that people were going to receive a word of comfort, but their stomachs were empty. Then she realized that it was more important to supply people’s hunger before anything else. “When I started with Associação Vale da Benção, taking children off the street, I started with a chicken, a package of rice, a package of cooking oil and a package of beans, and never again did God miss it. I’ve been with the social project for 14 years,” says Zita.

The founder says that the biggest difficulty in creating the association was the financial one. She says that, at the time, the local community was very different, a very violent neighborhood with a lot of crime. She reveals that she asked God for a strategy to reduce violence in the neighborhood. “God, give me a strategy, how I’m going to win and conquer this territory. And Jesus put in my heart a march for peace in the neighborhood. It worked and completed 11 years that we do, every 1st of May.”

Among the stories that most marked his life at the institution, there is the day when 60 people were at the NGO for lunch and there was only a kilo of ground beef. “I took that kilo of ground beef, combined it with two glasses of wheat that the neighbor lent me, kneaded it with that ground beef and started making meatballs the size of a finger’s head, made a sauce, thickened it with the wheat. Then my daughter gave food to everyone. And there’s still left over,” says Zita.

At the moment, Zita is teaching knitting and sewing classes for people who want to learn and earn an income. She says that they are making masks with fabric donations and slippers with shoe glue, shoe soles and a milk carton to make the insole. “Before, I used to buy cardboard to make an insole and, over the years, I learned that you could make an insole with a milk carton. I took the milk cartons, washed them, soaked them, threw them in the machine and it worked. Now that I’ve seen that milk cartons work to make insoles, I don’t need to buy those insoles anymore.”