The Clemencia Hardisson Municipal Housing Resource (RAM), in La Laguna, has an urban garden in its interior patio as a healthy occupation activity, but which, in addition, is “social and therapeutic”, since it seeks to promote “empowerment and the psychosocial well-being of the users of the center ”.
This was explained yesterday by Ruth Regalado, an educator at the Red Cross, the entity in charge of managing the center, during the visit to this urban garden, from which the users of the accommodation resource yesterday collected their first harvest.
The visit also included the mayor, Luis Yeray Gutiérrez; the councilor for Social Welfare, Rubens Ascanio; the president of the Red Cross Regional Assembly, Fernando Galván, as well as members of the Neighborhood Association of the Historic District, led by the treasurer, Mario Ramos.
This orchard was born from the collaboration of the Casco Neighborhood Association, the users of the center and the Red Cross, with the help of two companies, which have provided the necessary material.
“After the first visit we made to the center, I proposed to the Association Board to support this project. We have given life to a place where there are people who are in need of these things so that they can feel as if they were at home, ”said Mario Ramos.
“From the moment we entered the center and saw the interior patio that we had, one of the illusions was to create such a garden,” added Ruth Regalado.
“The first thing we did was a training for them to have knowledge of how to create an urban garden,” he continued. We have planted vegetables on one side and aromatic plants on the other. We also did a workshop where we explained the medicinal benefits of different aromatic plants. We will rotate, we will not always plant the same. There are things that we can use here, but our intention will be to give it to other people who really need it ”, since the center has a catering service.
Ruth Regalado stressed that, through this initiative, “what we have achieved are many benefits, not only physical and cognitive for all users, but we have also promoted responsibility, creativity, improved self-esteem and we have created healthier and more sustainable values with the environment ”.
An orchard highly valued by the users of the center. “I like the land, I like to work it, I have always liked having a little house and a little garden and planting. I like to do this, it is an entertainment that you have and a hobby, so as not to think about other things ”, one of the users affirmed yesterday.
The mayor valued that it is “one of the social actions that most enrich our municipality and our society.”
Likewise, the mayor of Social Welfare added that “more than 30 people reside here temporarily until their living conditions improve. Men, women and families have entered and have found a home that is built with love, strength and with the fundamental support and backing of the community. The Casco Neighborhood Association has made an extraordinary effort to give quality of life to this patio, which is now a living, dignified and therapeutic space ”.
This center, in which there are currently 38 residents, is aimed at people in a situation of social exclusion and includes an extensive program to improve their socio-labor insertion. In addition, it is committed to joint work with the citizens of the environment in which it is inserted, to favor the integration of a resource that moves away from the hostel model and is committed to a comprehensive care system to restore autonomy to these people.
