Record solidarity
Participants in the teams that gathered the most coats are received by the first lady of the state of São Paulo and coordinator of the campaign in the state, Lú Alckmin
Franciele Barbosa, who works in toll squares in the region of Paulínia, in the interior of São Paulo, thinks about sweatshirts, wool and flannel. Like another 400 participants of Rota das Bandeiras, she prepares herself to overcome the mark of 169,193 pieces of clothing gathered by the concessionaire for the Campanha do Agasalho in 2011. “The success of our participation last year brings us a huge challenge this year”, she says, expressing a feeling that mingles enthusiasm and anxiety.
The year of 2011 was the second in which Rota das Bandeiras, a company from Organização Odebrecht responsible for five highways in the interior of São Paulo, has taken part in the initiative. The campaign is promoted by State Government and involves secretariats, state public companies, and governmental entities– among them, Artesp (Regulating Agency of Public Services Delegated of the State of São Paulo). Counting with the adhesion of 18 highway concessionaires, Artesp intended to raise around 170 thousand pieces of clothing, a bit more what was achieved in 2010, when it gathered 162 thousand.
What no one expected was that, by itself, Rota das Bandeiras practically guaranteed this result. “Our goal was to gather 30 thousand pieces of clothing, three times what we achieved in 2010. In order to do this, we organized an internal competition. Our collaborators were split in 53 groups, with seven participants each. We did a campaign announcing the prizes for the three groups which collected a greater number of pieces of clothing”, tells Adherbal Vieira da Silva, Social Responsibility Manager of Rota das Bandeiras.
He explains that, during 53 days, the teams put a lot of effort, collecting, selecting, folding and packaging coats, caps, socks, pants, and all sort of winter clothing in good conservation and cleanliness shape. “By each passing week we got more excited: full trucks took out donations to social funds in 25 cities. Besides the 17 which are in the part under concession of Rota das Bandeiras, others were included, due to the amount of donations”, he adds. This year, the concessionaire intends to anticipate the collection and increase the delivering logistics of the donations.
Double Distribution
In the Fundos de Solidariedade (Solidarity Fund), which received and distributed the concessionaire’s donations, the record obtained by Rota das Bandeiras is celebrated to date: “We distributed twice as much, thanks to what arrived in from Rota. And everything was organized, which saved us a lot of work with selection. Donations require dignity”, highlights Magda Berton Gouvêa, President of the Fundo Social de Solidariedade da Prefeitura de Engenheiro Coelho (Social Fund of Solidarity of the Municipality of Engenho Coelho). According to her, more than 300 families were assisted in the town.
Satisfaction from doing good
Participant in the winning team in the competition promoted by the concessionaire, Letícia Barbosa insisted in accompanying the donation delivery in Engenheiro Coelho, where she lives: “It was very emotional to see the result of our efforts and the joy of the kids and adults. This is what motivates us even more for this year’s campaign”, she says. “For two months, we lived for that. We even used our homes to keep donations. In the garage, the living room, all rooms were filled with clothing boxes. In the end, the satisfaction for doing good was a great reward for all the effort”.
The donations from the 18 concessionaires added up to 279,955 pieces of clothing, and Rota das Bandeiras’ participation represented 60.4% of this total. Recognizing the company’s achievement, first lady Lu Alckmin, President of the Social Fund of Solidarity of the State of São Paulo received, in the Government House, the three who won the competition at Rota and congratulated each participant.
