Banco Alimentare

Banco Alimentare del Piemonte is a regional voluntary organization (ODV) active since 1993 in the fight against FOOD POVERTY and WASTE through the RECOVERY and DISTRIBUTION of food surpluses to people in difficulty.

In 2022, through the network of 568 Charitable Structures that assist 109,757 people in difficulty in Piedmont, 9,384 tons of food were distributed, thanks to donations from 330 supermarkets, 11 canteens and 144 donor companies. Life is one of them.

Indeed, thanks to the generosity of the Life company, Banco Alimentare is able to distribute a very high quality product with high nutritional value in Piedmont. A fruitful collaboration, therefore, which has grown and consolidated over time and which contributes to enriching and varying the basket of products donated to people in difficulty in the area.

I Bambini delle Fate

“I Bambini delle Fate” is a social enterprise that since 2005 has been involved in ensuring economic support for social inclusion projects and paths managed by local partners for the benefit of families with autism and other disabilities.

We deal exclusively with regular fundraising with an innovative system: we work daily to create groups of supporters who accompany over time, with continuity and the possibility of planning services, projects of inclusion and autonomy aimed at improving the lives of the many, too many families who live the challenge of autism and disability every day.

Without denying or minimizing the weight of daily challenges and hardships, it is essential for us to tell "with a smiling face" the potential of children and young people and the great strength of their families.

Through a widespread network of collaborators, we actively involve entrepreneurs and citizens so that they "closely adopt" and accompany an inclusion project over time.

“Fare Impresa nel Sociale” is the national campaign for social inclusion aimed at entrepreneurs.

Each of our supporters consciously chooses to commit to a regular sponsorship: a monthly commitment that becomes a means of supporting projects with a long, organized and structured time horizon.

The Children of the Fairies take care of all the communication of the project for their supporters: they write down the amount of the funds raised, their use, the progress of the campaign, the testimonies of the beneficiaries, the direct contacts of the contacts with telephone, data and any other content that ensures full and total transparency for the protection of all the subjects involved.

In this way, the entrepreneur's role of social responsibility becomes concrete: we collect the testimonies and spread the good practices of CSR - Corporate Social Responsibility - throughout Italy.

To date, over 800 entrepreneurs throughout Italy have chosen to take action with their financial support, guaranteeing a better present and future for hundreds of children and young people in difficulty.

In the province of Cuneo, entrepreneurs have been involved in the "Families at the Center" project of the Fiori sulla Luna ODV Association and the Momo cooperative, dedicated to autistic children and teenagers and their families.

Orto in Condotta

Life is a supporter of Orto in Condotta, the Slow Food Italia project for schools of all levels.

The Orto in Condotta project goes back to the three key principles of the Slow Food association: good, clean and fair. Good, because it uses sensory education workshops to teach children and parents to distinguish foods on the basis of their sensory quality. Clean, because the kids learn to act in harmony with the ecosystem, to seek out and protect the seeds of traditional local cultivars and to prioritise a food system that respects the environment from field to table. And fair, because it encourages the transmission of knowledge between generations and values the social role of older people and volunteers, and promotes collaboration between different organisations and countries through twinning with the Global South.

In the Orto in Condotta schools, the students learn together by doing, in the classroom or in the garden, because direct experience boosts learning and shared reflection allows everyone to advance according to their own preferences and abilities.

On 11 November each year, coinciding with the Indian summer and the end of the farming year, Slow Food celebrates the 500 schools taking part in the Orto in Condotta scheme. 

 

1000 Gardens in Africa

Since 2012 Life has supported the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity, sharing its commitment to promote and protect biodiversity, local areas and small-scale producers.

In particular, in the two-year period 2020-2021 Life’s support for the Slow Food Foundation was focused on the creation of ten new Gardens in Africa: the first five in Malawi in 2020, followed by five more in Uganda in 2021. 

The purpose of Gardens in Africa is to train a network of young people who are aware of the value of their land and their culture, who can play a key role in change and in the future of their continent. 

The gardens are established in schools and villages in collaboration with local communities, in order to create concrete and easily replicable models of sustainable agriculture with clear environmental, socioeconomic and cultural benefits.

To create a garden is to help the community rediscover local biodiversity by studying native plant varieties and trialling the principles of organic cultivation on the ground, learning about conscientious use of water resources and producing its own seeds. What’s more, Gardens in Africa provide fresh food that’s good, clean and fair: they are genuine outdoor classrooms that improve quality of life, support local economies, facilitate the exchange of knowledge between elders and the younger generations and strengthen the spirit of collaboration.