With enough desire and will-power, we can change the world.
SonRisas is a non-profit Civil Association that focuses its efforts on children at risk who are facing the consequences of poverty and exclusion. The association carries out its activities in various neighborhoods of the town of Esteban Echeverría. Its members are volunteers from a variety of professional backgrounds, committed to changing reality and fighting social injustice. SonRisas does not adhere to any political party, economic interest group or religious belief. It is an association held together by brotherly love and the conviction that solidarity is the right path.
SonRisas endeavors to provide vulnerable kids with a space for training, recreation, support, and expression, where they can find an appropriate environment in which to grow up and experience their childhood. In this space, their education is monitored and supplemented with academic support, literacy workshops, a workshop for toddlers and various workshops aimed at children and adolescents for educational, recreational, and training purposes. With the support of businesses individuals, SonRisas also manages resources to give the families it works with what they need to enhance the quality of their lives; starting with the basic need for food via a program that feeds the neediest families according to an analysis of a census conducted in the area and knowledge of the territory. In return, the adults of the families are asked to perform community services. It is important to clarify that SonRisas does not work like a “soup kitchen”. The food is provided to eat at home with the family. The services requested in return not only enable accomplishing important daily tasks of the organization but also give the beneficiaries a sense of worth and generates participation. SonRisas works at building alliances with three basic stakeholders: the Family, the School and the State, each of which plays a fundamental, indispensable role in the children’s development. SonRisas has neither the desire nor the ability to replace them. We work together in a coordinated manner, which is the way we believe enables real change. As a result, we not only cover basic needs but sometimes also generate what children need to confront difficult realities, creating tools that allow them to be law-abiding citizens as adults, with education, values, and opportunities. This is our way of trying to enable them to have a dignified childhood so that they can have a future with more opportunities and thus educate their future children with a better outlook on reality.
For more information, click here to visit the SonRisas foundation website